If there was any doubt as to whether the No. 18 Fort Lewis College men’s basketball team was angry about letting Friday’s game with Colorado Mesa slip away at the foul line, the first few minutes of Saturday’s game answered any lingering questions.
No foul shots were necessary to put away Saturday’s game, as Fort Lewis stormed out of the locker room and started the game on a 21-4 run. The Skyhawks (13-3, 8-3 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference) never let up and never relinquished the lead as they coasted to an 89-74 victory.
“I think we won this game at the team meeting (Saturday morning),” FLC head coach Bob Pietrack said in a phone interview with The Durango Herald. “These guys love each other, and we just had a bad 30 seconds (Friday) in Grand Junction. When we talked it out this morning, the determination was there to not let it happen again.”
Will Morse was inserted into the Fort Lewis starting lineup and was fantastic for the Skyhawks. The junior sharpshooter led the Fort Lewis offensive attack with 23 points on a blistering 6-for-9 from long range. Morse’s four first half 3-pointers paced a fast start for Fort Lewis, which made 9-for-18 attempts from behind the 3-point line and shot 50 percent from the field in a dominant opening half.
Holding a firm 15-point halftime lead, Fort Lewis wasn’t about to let another one fall by the wayside.
The closest Westminster (8-7, 4-7 RMAC) even came to sniffing the lead was midway through the second half when the Griffins cut the deficit to 10 points for the first time since the opening minutes of the game.
Fort Lewis promptly stretched the lead back to 15 points and the home team never threatened again.
Westminster’s Casey Evans led the Griffins with 20 points in a losing effort. The Griffins shot an impressive 58 percent from 3-point range, but it wasn’t enough to hang with the Skyhawks.
Fort Lewis won the battle of bench points decisively 26-6 and finished with 15 made 3-pointers.
“We have a special group and our staff was so proud of the way these guys responded after a tough outcome (Friday),” Pietrack said. “A lot of teams would have hung their heads and not been able to come back after what happened to us (Friday night). We came back strong, and I know that this team is going to play great basketball down the stretch.”
Skyhawks center Austin Haldorson finished with 16 points, Rasmus Bach had 14 off the bench, and Joshua Blaylock contributed 12 points in the win.
Fort Lewis will be back in Durango for a 7:30 p.m. Friday matchup with Western New Mexico at Whalen Gymnasium.
jfries@durangoherald.com
