The Fort Lewis College men’s basketball team has played one of the toughest non-conference schedules in Division II, and it paid off with an 81-68 signature win over No. 13 St. Mary’s University on Wednesday.
On the women’s side, FLC won two games in Texas with its defense to continue the Skyhawks’ great start to the season.
Before playing St. Mary’s on Wednesday in San Antonio in the River City Holiday Classic, the Skyhawks men had lost their first four matchups against teams that were either in the Division II top 25 or receiving votes, including a 87-61 loss to No. 14 St. Edward’s University on Tuesday.
However, FLC had one of its best first halves and games of the season offensively against St. Mary’s, led by an outstanding shooting day by redshirt sophomore guard Jaxon Smith. The win over St. Mary’s was FLC’s first top 25 win of the season.
“To their credit, they came out today (Wednesday) totally dialed in to our scout and to our preparation,” FLC men’s basketball head coach Jordan Mast said about his team. “The warm-up was great; they just look like a completely different team. They got to see a glimpse of our team when we are playing our best. We envision seeing a team that can beat and compete with top 25 teams.”
FLC improved to 6-5 overall after it shot 61% from the field, 55% from 3-point range and 75% from the free-throw line.
Smith led the Skyhawks with 25 points on 8-12 shooting from the field, 5-8 from 3-point range and 4-4 from the free-throw line. Redshirt sophomore Stewart Erhart was the only other Skyhawk in double figures with 11 points as FLC had five players with between seven and 11 points.
St. Mary’s dropped to 8-2 overall after it shot 32% from the field, 26% from 3-point range and 84% from the free-throw line. Damani Claxton led the Rattlers with 23 points on 6-14 shooting from the field, 4-8 from 3-point range and 7-8 from the free-throw line.
The game was close for the first 15 minutes of the first half before the Skyhawks ended the half on a 19-5 run over the last 6:55 to take a 37-23 lead into halftime. Smith was a big part of FLC’s first-half success with 16 points in the opening 20-minute frame. Mast said Smith got a lot of good looks off movement; Mast knows that once Smith makes a few, he shows he’s one of the best shooters in the country.
“We still aren't great, but we had more assists than turnovers,” Mast said. “The three games that we've done that this year have been our three best games. You get to those actions and the ball moves when you actually don't turn it over … That's been a huge point of emphasis for us. We haven't been very good, and we need to get better quickly.”
FLC opened a 20-point lead in the second half before disaster happened for the Skyhawks. Junior point guard Yorgio Golesis went down with a serious knee injury and didn’t return. Mast thinks it could be a season-ending injury for FLC’s starting point guard, who had eight points and eight assists in only 23 minutes. It’s a brutal blow for a FLC team that has been snake-bit by injuries since the preseason.
Not surprisingly, FLC struggled to take care of the ball and run offense without Golesis, and St. Mary’s cut the lead late.
Despite Golesis’ injury, it was a nice bounce-back effort for the Skyhawks after their loss to St. Edward’s on Tuesday. The 26-point loss was FLC’s biggest loss of the season, and the Skyhawks’ 61 points were a season low.
FLC shot 36% from the field, 20% from 3-point range and 75% from the free-throw line in the loss. Fifth-year forward Chuol Deng led FLC with 14 points on 4-10 shooting from the field, 3-6 from 3-point range, 3-6 from the free-throw line and eight rebounds.
St. Edward’s improved to 12-1 overall after it shot 45% from the field, 35% from 3-point range and 82% from the free-throw line. Conor McManus led St. Edward’s with 19 points on 7-15 shooting from the field and 5-13 from 3-point range.
It was another slow start for FLC that it couldn’t recover from. FLC trailed 45-22 at the half, trailed by 12 early in the second half, but trailed by as many as 30 points late in the second half.
Mast said his team came out flat and didn’t have the energy level, attention to detail and effort to beat a good team with talent.
The Skyhawks women’s basketball team has been one of the best scoring teams in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference this season, but it was FLC’s defense that allowed the Skyhawks to go 2-0 in Texas for their last two non-conference games of the season on Wednesday and Thursday.
FLC beat Maryville University, 62-50, on Wednesday and beat UT Tyler, 60-53, on Thursday in Tyler, Texas.
“The girls just came out ready to play, super energetic,” FLC women’s basketball head coach Lauren Zuniga said. “They followed the scout really well, executed the game plan, so definitely all credit to them. We focused a lot on our rebounding efforts and just effort on the defensive end.”
FLC improved to 9-3 overall after the two wins.
Against Maryville on Wednesday, the Skyhawks shot 36% from the field, 29% from 3-point range and 58% from the free-throw line. Senior forward Ashten Martinez had one of her best games as a Skyhawk, finishing with 15 points on 6-9 shooting from the field, 2-4 from 3-point range, 1-2 from the free-throw line and five rebounds.
Martinez did a great job reading the defense, and the team had good ball movement to find her when she was open, according to Zuniga.
“She's finally finding her confidence within the offense, finding where she feels most confident getting shots,” Zuniga said about Martinez. “Maggie (assistant coach Maggie Espenmiller-McGraw) and I have seen it the whole year. It's why we recruited her, with her ability to stretch the defense.”
Maryville dropped to 8-3 overall after it shot 23% from the field, 27% from 3-point range and 68% from the free-throw line in the loss.
The Skyhawks held a 12-11 lead after the first quarter and led 31-25 at the half. Maryville responded in the third to cut the lead to 43-40.
It was a fourth quarter of runs, with FLC using a 6-0 run early in the quarter to take a six-point lead. Maryville responded with a 6-0 run to tie the game at 49 with 5:03 left. The Skyhawks had the final dagger with a 13-1 run to end the game.
FLC shot 40% from the field, 27% from 3-point range and 67% from the free-throw line in the win against UT Tyler. The Skyhawks’ defense was especially incredible in the first half, and they took a 33-15 lead to halftime.
UT Tyler rallied late in the fourth quarter to close the gap, but the Patriots’ inability to hit 3-pointers (1-21) cost them.
Zuniga was happy with how her team did with the scout by knowing UT Tyler’s defensive rotations, taking away the Patriots’ best 3-point shooter and FLC’s 46-27 rebounding advantage.
“We knew that they run a ton of different ball screens and some different handoffs,” Zuniga said. “So we did a good job of pressuring them, taking that away and making their point guard work really hard for different stuff.”
Freshman guard Josie Davis led the Skyhawks with 18 points on 7-15 shooting from the field, 1-4 from 3-point range, 3-4 from the free-throw line, along with 10 rebounds.
UT Tyler dropped to 6-6 overall after it shot 38% from the field, 5% from 3-point range and 63% from the free-throw line.
Both FLC teams are back in action on Jan. 8 at home vs. Western Colorado, with the women tipping off at 5:30 p.m. and the men playing after.
bkelly@durangoherald.com
