After besting the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs 77-69 and Regis University 75-62 last weekend, the Fort Lewis College men's basketball team improved to 13-1 overall, which is the best start through 14 games in program history.
On top of that, last weekend's wins have cemented head coach Bob Pietrack as the second-winningest coach in program history, surpassing Chuck Walker (1972-1983) with 144 career wins.
Fort Lewis (13-1, 7-1 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference) opened the 2022-23 season with 10 straight wins marking just the fifth double-digit winning streak in program history. After falling to Westminster (5-10, 4-5 RMAC) on the road, the Skyhawks have won three straight to maintain pace in the race for the RMAC regular season title.
Heading into the 2022-23 season, Pietrack had amassed a resume with a 131-67 record as the Skyhawks head coach. Riding the best start in program history, Pietrack has now surpassed Walker with 144 total wins and 99 RMAC wins. Additionally, Pietrack now owns the highest winning percentage of any head coach in program history (.679).
Bob Hofman, who the court a Whalen Gymnasium is named after, is FLC’s wins leader with 359. Hofman coached the Skyhawks for 19 years and finished with a .654 winning percentage.
Walker, the Fort Lewis College men's basketball coach from 1972-1983, oversaw the Skyhawks in 290 career games amassing a 142-148 (.490) overall record with a 97-95 (.505) conference record.
Pietrack, who played for the Skyhawks from 2001-04, moved over to the sidelines after graduation and joined the coaching staff in the summer of 2004. Serving under Hofman, Pietrack was promoted to associate head coach after his 100th game with the program in 2008.
After assisting Hofman for 11 years, Pietrack was named interim head coach in June 2015. In his first season at the helm of the program, Fort Lewis set program records for most wins in a season (28-4), most RMAC wins in a single season (19), most consecutive wins (16), and most wins at home in a single season (17-0). Named the RMAC and National Association of Basketball Coaches South Central Region Coach of the Year in 2015-16, the sky has been the limit ever since.
To get the win against Regis, Obi Agbim scored 15 points and JaQuaylon Mays added 15 for FLC.
After matching his career high in blocks with three against UCCS, Brendan La Rose upped his effort against Regis and set a new career high with four blocks. La Rose also had a season-high eight rebounds against the Rangers. La Rose, a fifth-year senior from Falcon, Colorado, then earned his first RMAC Defensive Player of the Week honor for his efforts.
In the women’s game, a defensive battle went to the visiting Rangers on Saturday, 60-50.
The Skyhawks were limited to 23.8% shooting from the field (15-of-63), a season-low through 14 games, but FLC also held the Rangers to 31.7% shooting (20-of-63).
Junior Kelsey Sorenson and sophomore Avery Evans led FLC with 10 points each.
Fort Lewis dropped to 6-8 overall and 3-5 in league play with the loss while Regis improved to 9-5, 6-2.
This week, FLC will play at Chadron State College on Friday and at Colorado Christian on Saturday.
