Westminster did not ruin Fort Lewis’ Christmas this year, as the Skyhawks dominated the Griffins 90-62 in another outstanding offensive performance Saturday at Whalen Gymnasium.
Fort Lewis (9-1, 5-0 in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference) shot 47% from the field and 37% from 3-point range.
“I’m pleased with our focus, our intensity, our effort and playing the loop over finals week,” Skyhawks coach Bob Pietrack said. “It's always a little bit of a nervous time for a coach because you get your practice schedules changed because of the classes.”
Junior guard Obi Agbim led the Skyhawks with 18 points on 7 of 13 shooting from the field, including 4 of 7 shooting from 3-point range. Junior guard Samir Kinsler also had a strong game with 14 points on 4 of 7 shooting from 3-point range, while senior guard Junior Garbrah finished with 11 points.
Both Agbim and Garbrah were on last year’s squad, which won its first 10 games of the 2022-23 campaign before a shocking loss to Westminster just before winter break.
“The win feels great,” Agbim said. “Just coming off the last year, I feel like we had a lot more attention to detail with all the distractions and finals going on. This year was sort of like a year not to make the same mistake. We didn't make the same mistake and we capitalized.”
Westminster (4-7, 0-5 in the RMAC) shot 43% from the field and 31% from 3-point range. The Griffins also committed 21 turnovers.
Westminster forward Trey Wood had 18 points on 8 of 13 shooting from the field and 2 of 3 from downtown. Sixteen of Wood’s points came in the first half. Guard Rylan O’Brien scored 14 points.
“Trey was a very good player, very talented with the right hand and the left hand and he can shoot 3s,” Pietrack said. “We were just going to continue to do what we do, just try to wear him out. He had to play a lot of minutes, 31 minutes as a five, that's hard. Him missing some shots had to do with us, just the complete sustained defensive intensity. It's hard to keep making them. And a little bit more attention to higher hands just because he was on a heater.”
Agbim opened up the scoring for the Skyhawks with a 3-pointer from the wing. An Isaiah Thompson block led to a Garbrah 3-pointer for a quick 6-0 lead. Senior center Sekou Dembele got inside and scored four points to increase Fort Lewis’ lead to 10-4 with 15:43 to go, as Westminster struggled with turnovers early due to the Skyhawks’ pressure.
Westminster hit some jump shots and cut Fort Lewis’ lead to 13-11 with under 13 minutes left.
But behind some good defense, including a Brayden Carter block, pushed the Skyhawks’ lead to 20-11 with 11 minutes left. Jhei-R Jones had a 3-pointer and a floater in that span.
Wood showed off his midrange touch for two baskets before an Agbim jumper, followed by a 3-pointer and layup, pushed the Skyhawks’ lead to 29-18.
The Skyhawks kept increasing their lead with strong full-court pressure and jump shooting. Kinsler hit two 3-pointers to push the lead to 38-21 with 4:34 left.
Westminster cut into the lead in the last four minutes by breaking the Fort Lewis press. Wood hit a 3-pointer, then hit another shot coming off a Skyhawks turnover to make it a 42-34 game just before halftime. However, Fort Lewis pulled ahead for good in the second half.
Garbrah opened the second half with two baskets from short range. Whitaker and Dembele also scored some buckets inside.
Fort Lewis led 52-40 with 15:50 left, and the lead grew from there.
The Skyhawks got to the line and increased the lead to 65-48 with two jab-step 3-pointers by Agbim.
After a flagrant one foul on Westminster guard Chase Potter, the Skyhawks went on a 22-2 run with five minutes left, expanding their lead to 78-48.
“We knew if we just kept the pressure on eventually the dam would break and it broke,” Pietrack said. “I don't think it was us doing it more and more, it was us staying consistent with it. It's very hard to play against the whole time and they made some 3s. We didn't blink because those long shots are going to be even longer when you're tired. And I think we saw that as the game went on.”
Redshirt freshman guards Chris Schlesinger and Garrett Arnold scored their first points of the season in the last few minutes.
Fort Lewis will return to the court on Jan. 2 to host Navajo Technical University.
bkelly@durangoherald.com
