Friday is senior night at Whalen Gymnasium, and the seniors on the No. 8 Fort Lewis College men’s basketball team are more than deserving of the recognition they’ll receive.
Ryan Brooks, Austin Haldorson, Kofi Josephs, Cade Kloster, Kody Salcido and Jared Smith will play their last regular season game at FLC’s Bob Hofman Court at Whalen Gymnasium. If not for the 22-3 record and the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference’s regular season title, it would be their last game at FLC. Instead, the work they’ve already done gave them home-court advantage for the RMAC Shootout tournament.
The all-business Skyhawks (23-3, 18-3 RMAC) are excited to celebrate what they’ve done for Fort Lewis College, and vice versa, but they know this season has a lot of basketball left.
“It’s a special night even though we have more home games and we still have a lot of work left to do. It’s a nice way to look back and see how far we’ve all come,” Smith said before practice Thursday in an interview with The Durango Herald. “Mentally, we’re nowhere close to being done, but it’ll give us a chance to step back and say ‘it’s been quite a ride.’”
It has been quite a ride for this group, especially during their senior year. The seniors will go out with the best regular season record, most regular season wins and best start ever for a Fort Lewis team. They’ll leave the program as part of the best team in program history. The only question left is how they’ll finish.
“It just doesn’t seem like anything is done yet, but (senior night) is really a night for us to celebrate with our loved ones and those who got us to this point in our careers,” Kloster said. “For us six to play together in our last regular season game is a special thing. We’re competitors, though, and we’re really looking forward to what we’re up against in the next couple of weeks.”
Though Fort Lewis has already locked up the RMAC regular season title, regional ranking implications make Friday’s game against Adams State (13-13, 12-9 RMAC) as important as any. The Skyhawks have won 11 consecutive games and haven’t lost since a Jan. 15 game at Colorado Mesa got away from them late. There’s also added motivation to beat Adams State, one of the three teams to have beaten the dominant Skyhawks this season, as the Grizzlies won the RMAC opener 73-65 way back on Dec. 5.
Since then, the Skyhawks have gone 18-2 and won the conference title for the fifth time in school history.
“We’ve beaten a lot of good teams, and we want to keep taking care of business,” Josephs said. “We’re on a crazy run, so we just want to keep the momentum going.”
Friday’s senior night is scheduled to tip at 7:30 p.m. The seniors will be recognized before the game.
Fans are asked to wear white shirts for a “whiteout night,” and the first 800 fans to the game will receive a free white shirt. FLC also is planning to have a giveaway for a Ford Fiesta car during the game.
“We’ve been talking all year about finishing strong,” said Fort Lewis head coach Bob Pietrack. “I think senior night means a lot more to them than they’ll lead on, and nobody wants to lose on senior night. This is such a special group, and they’ve sacrificed a lot to compete here. I hope we pack the gym and it’s something they’ll remember forever.”
jfries@durangoherald.com
