A 17-point comeback secured Fort Lewis College’s place in Golden this weekend. It could earn the Skyhawks two consecutive trips to the Front Range.
The No. 21 Skyhawks men’s basketball team (24-5) came in at fifth in the NCAA Division II South Central Region rankings Wednesday. Colorado School of Mines, the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference regular season champions, jumped from No. 2 to first in the final regional rankings of the season and is in control of potentially hosting the regional bracket of the national tournament.
The NCAA Division II tournament field will be finalized Sunday after the conference tournaments are completed. The top eight teams in the regional rankings will make the tournament, with the three winners of the RMAC, Lone Star Conference and Heartland Conference guaranteed a spot.
FLC climbed from sixth to fifth in the region from this time a week ago.
The Skyhawks trailed University of Colorado-Colorado Springs by 17 points in the RMAC Shootout quarterfinals Tuesday before roaring back behind Joshua Blaylock’s 33 points and the inspired play of Daniel Hernandez and Alex Semadeni to secure a 92-85 win. FLC likely needed to win that game to qualify for the NCAA Division II tournament after dropping two of its previous three games to Colorado Mines and Westminster.
Now, the Skyhawks appear safe no matter what happens the remainder of the conference tournament in Golden. FLC will face Colorado Christian in the semifinals at 5 p.m. Friday. A win would put the Skyhawks against the winner of Friday’s other semifinals between Mines and Metro State.
Of course, an FLC victory in the RMAC Shootout would likely remove the Orediggers from the top spot in the region. As of now, University of Texas-Permian Basin (23-5) is in the best position to jump Mines after sweeping the regular season from Tarleton State. The Falcons are second in the regional rankings ahead of West Texas A&M and Tarleton State.
Behind FLC is Texas A&M-Commerce, Colorado State University-Pueblo and Cameron. CSU-Pueblo lost Tuesday at home to Colorado Christian and hangs in limbo this weekend while other teams complete conference tournament games.
If the rankings remain the same, FLC would face mighty Tarleton State in the first round of the tournament and could get a rematch with West Texas A&M if both teams win in the opening round. West Texas A&M beat FLC 92-80 in Texas in FLC’s first regular season game of the season.
With potentially two games to play, a lot is left to be settled.
jlivingston@durangoherald.com
