The Fort Lewis College men’s basketball team squared off with Black Hills State University for the fourth time this season Sunday in the semifinals of the South Central Region. After beating the defending Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference champs the first three times to take the conference crown for themselves, the Skyhawks were unable to finish with a clean sweep against the Yellow Jackets.
Senior Brenden Boatwright went off for 14 points and 11 rebounds. JaQuaylon Mays scored 17 points and Akuel Kot another 14. Shooting struggles at the free-throw line and a rebounding differential of 42-32, however, was too tall of a task to overcome and the No. 7-ranked Skyhawks fell to 21st-ranked Black Hills State 81-66.
Fort Lewis ends its season 29-4 overall, capping off a historic season that set a new single-season program wins record with 29, regular season wins with 25, and a road record of 10-1. Black Hills State improved to 27-5 with the win and was scheduled to face the South Central Region hosts, West Texas A&M University (27-6), in the regional championship on before press time Tuesday night.
After winning the tipoff, Dunnell Stafford knocked down the first four points of the contest on a midrange jump shot with a pair of free throws. The momentum swung, however, when Joel Scott and PJ Hayes knocked down back-to-back 3-pointers during an 8-0 run that put Black Hills State ahead, 8-4.
The Yellow Jackets continued to attack offensively, keeping the Skyhawks on their heels and finding open lanes to the basket as well as open shots on the perimeter. Hayes knocked down his second trey as the BHSU made five of its seven opening threes to quickly take a double-digit lead, 28-17. The Yellow Jackets pushed out the lead to as many as 13 on a pull-up jumper from Ryker Cisarik, but the Skyhawks finally strung together a string of possessions to cut the lead to 40-32 heading into halftime.
The Skyhawks continued to struggle shooting in the second half, knocking down just nine free throws on 16 attempts in the half. Fort Lewis was able to cut the deficit to seven on multiple occasions, but Black Hills State limited the Skyhawks to quick, contested shots that would not fall.
Scott led all players in the with a 23-point and 19-rebound double-double. Boatwright capped off his five-year career with Fort Lewis with a 14-point, 11-rebound double-double of his own.
While both sides finished shooting under 65.0% from the free-throw line, the Yellow Jackets outshot the Skyhawks 47.5% to 43.6% from the field and limited FLC to just 2-13 from beyond the arc.
For the third time in program history this season, the Skyhawks captured at least a share of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference regular-season title as well as the RMAC Tournament Championship.
The Skyhawks finished the season 5-3 against National Association of Basketball Coaches Top 25 teams.
Fort Lewis graduates four seniors from this season's roster: Stafford, JaQuaylon Mays, Brendan La Rose, and Boatwright. Boatwright finishes his time with Fort Lewis ranked 16th in all-time career points scored (1,194) and 11th in all-time career rebounds (588).
Junior Akuel Kot set new program records this year in single-season total points scored (801), single-game scoring (45 points), second in single-season points per game (24.3), first in single-season made free throws (226), third in single-season free throw attempts (267), second in single-season field goal attempts (482), tied Riley Farris (2019-20) in single-season made field goals (249) and sits in fifth in all-time career scoring with 1,712 points.
