After wins over No. 2/3 Black Hills State and South Dakota Mines last weekend in South Dakota, the No. 9/11 Fort Lewis College men’s basketball team is now is sole possession of first place in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference.
FLC is now 24-2 overall and 18-2 in the RMAC. It's the seventh time in program history FLC has won 24 games or more, and the team’s 10 road wins are also a program record.
With Black Hills State and Colorado Mesa both trailing by just a single game with identical 22-4, 17-3 RMAC records, the Skyhawks will need to win their final two games of the season this week to capture the conference regular season title. If the Skyhawks win the conference, they will get to host the upcoming RMAC tournament.
The No. 9-ranked Skyhawks will host Metropolitan State University of Denver (11-15, 8-12) at 7:30 p.m. Friday and No. 19/25 Colorado School of Mines (22-4, 16-4) at 7 p.m. Saturday to close out the regular season.
Akuel Kot and JaQuaylon Mays were named the conference's players of the week, the conference announced Monday, for helping FLC move into first place. FLC beat Black Hills State twice last week, 88-78 at home Monday and then 76-68 in Spearfish on Friday. The Skyhawks then downed South Dakota Mines 80-69 on Saturday. Kot scored 27 against the Hardrockers, with 23 coming in the second half. Brenden Boatwright scored 16 and Dunnell Stafford added 14 in the win.
Kot, the second-ranked scorer in the country averaging 24.4 points per game, was tabbed as the Offensive Player of the Week for his efforts. Kot tallied 69 total points last week, averaging 23.0 points per game.
Mays, the team’s director on the floor, had a dominant week on the defensive end to help Fort Lewis extend its winning streak to nine games and earned Defense Player of the Week honors. Mays totaled 46 points, 23 rebounds, three assists, and three steals last week.
