The Fort Lewis College men's basketball team rolled past Southeastern Oklahoma State University 99-85 on Friday at the Adams State University Thanksgiving Classic.
The Skyhawks are now 5-0 overall for the first since the 2019-20 season while the Savage Storm fell to 1-2 overall.
“When you are playing these prime-time Division II games you need to have exceptional effort and tonight, we did just that,” Fort Lewis College Head Coach Bob Pietrack told FLC Athletics. “Tonight, we had tremendous effort up and down our roster across the entire game. We played our best game of the season offensively. Credit to SOSU, they are a great team, but we allowed three turnovers and missed one free throw. We preach these small things to our guys every day, and tonight they showed up and executed at the highest level.”
Akuel Kot continued to show his dominance on the hardwood and scored 34 points for FLC. Kot shot 11-15 from the floor, 6-9 from the three-point line and 6-7 at the free throw line. Fort Lewis' leading scorer also grabbed two rebounds, three assists, one steal and blocked two shots.
JaQuaylon Mays and Brenden Boatwright each scored 12 points and Junior Garbrah added 11. Dunnell Stafford directed traffic, grabbing nine boards and nine points and leading FLC with five assists.
Jett Sternberger scored a team-leading 24-points for Southeastern Oklahoma. Brennen Burns, the team’s leading scorer heading into the game, was held to 10 points.
“Credit to Mays, Garbrah and Stafford for limiting SOSU offensively,” Pietrack said. “Those guys had a phenomenal game defensively.”
The Skyhawks were locked in from tipoff, exchanging early baskets with the Savage Storm until taking a 13-point lead when Trevor Trost sunk a three-pointer near the top of the key five minutes in.
Southeastern Oklahoma State found its footing shortly thereafter, outscoring Fort Lewis across the middle of the half to knot it up at 33 points.
The Skyhawks, however, held the Savage Storm to 10 points the rest of the half as FLC pulled away once more. Kot beat the buzzer with a three-point jumper in the left corner, securing a 55-43 halftime lead for FLC.
Out of the half, it was all Fort Lewis. The Skyhawks continued to dominate on the offensive glass and led by as many as 20 points down the stretch.
Kot is now the third-highest scorer in NCAA Division II and fifth highest across all NCAA Divisions (I, II, III), averaging 29.8 points per game.
Garbrah has also scored 10 or more points in three straight games.
The Skyhawks were also scheduled to play Navajo Technical College in its final nonconference game Saturday in Alamosa as this paper was going to press.
A difference of 10 three-pointers was the ultimate decider in a 90-60 loss for the Fort Lewis College women's basketball team on Friday. Wayne State College benefited from 14 threes to just four for the Skyhawks to take the Holiday Inn Airport Thanksgiving Classic opener from Brownson Arena in Grand Junction.
Fort Lewis fell to 3-2 overall with the loss while Wayne State improved to 3-1.
Fort Lewis shot 36% (18-of-50) from the field versus 52.4% (33-of-63) for Wayne State. Form the free-throw line, the Skyhawks shot 20-of-29.
Freshman Lanae Billy led Fort Lewis with 21 points – a career-high. Junior Kelsey Sorenson followed with 15 points and a career-high six steals. Sophomore Ava Strange and freshman Ruby Sweeney-Spitzeck followed with seven and six points. Sophomore Avery Evans had four points, three rebounds, two blocks, and one steal.
Lauren Zacharias led the Wildcats with 37 points, shooting 12-of-18 from the field and 7-of-10 from behind the three-point line.
The FLC women will now play their final nonconference game at 5 p.m. Sunday against Colorado Mesa University – the tournament host. FLC was originally scheduled to take on SAGU American Indian College on Saturday but the Warriors decided to pull out of the tournament.
