Nobody has won more games in a Fort Lewis College men’s basketball uniform than Rasmus Bach.
When the Skyhawks defeated CSU-Pueblo 95-61 on Saturday night inside Whalen Gymnasium in Durango, Bach picked up his 93rd win. The 6-foot-4 senior forward from Austin, Texas, surpassed his former teammate Will Morse, a show of the unprecedented success the team has had over the last four seasons.
“It’s really special. I can’t put it into words yet,” Bach said Saturday night after receiving the game ball from head coach Bob Pietrack. “I think once I’m older, I’ll really appreciate it and reflect on it. Coach gave me the ball tonight, and I really want everyone to sign it, and I wish I could get guys like (Alex Herrera and Cade Kloster) and all those guys to sign it, too. I didn’t do this alone. This was the coaches and everyone around me.”
Pietrack has witnessed Bach transform into a star player during his time at FLC and considers Bach one of the all-time great Skyhawks. Bach has scored 1,702 points now in his four-year FLC career, which ranks third all-time in FLC history. Herrera is second with 1,758 points, and DeAndre Lansdowne is first with 1,861. Herrera and Lansdowne both reached out to Bach on social media to congratulate him on his 93rd win.
“In a basketball program with a rich tradition, for Rasmus Bach to be the all-time wins leader at 93 speaks volumes about him as a person and player,” Pietrack said. “I’m thankful he’s been in our program as long as he has. If there is a Mount Rushmore of Fort Lewis College basketball players, Bach is dead center in it.”
This season, Bach has averaged 15.1 points and 5.1 rebounds per game. Most impressive, however, has been his passing, as he already has a career-high 82 assists this season in 20 games. That’s one more than he had in 33 games a year ago.
The senior captain has molded his game to the team around him, with several new players changing the dynamic of this year’s team. Bach has sacrificed taking as many shots as he may typically attempt in order to improve the rest of the team, and it was never more evident than Saturday night when he scored only five points while attempting only two shots in the blowout win. He finished the night with seven rebounds and five assists.
“With Josh (Blaylock) and Will (Morse) gone and no true point guard here, I knew I had to adapt my game this year,” Bach said.
“I can’t just be a scorer looking for my shot every time. You could see tonight, I only took two shots. I don’t think I’ve ever only taken two shots my whole career. But I’ve adapted to a lot as everyone else has, too. We’re on a roll right now, and it’s a lot of fun to play.”
Bach, who has won numerous Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference awards, including for academics, also has been named to the all-region team in his career. He came back from a season-ending knee injury his freshman season and used a redshirt to allow him to play another four years. He went on to win the RMAC Freshman of the Year award in 2015 and has made the All-RMAC teams every year since.
Bach also was a key piece to the 2015-16 RMAC championship team, and he has helped lead the team to the NCAA Division II tournament each of the last two years and looks poised to make it three in a row this season.
First, Bach and the Skyhawks hope to hold onto their one-game advantage in the conference with five games to play.
“I couldn’t have asked for a better career,” Bach said. “I didn’t know where I was going until the last minute. I really didn’t have anywhere to go, so for my career to pan out how it has, I’m truly blessed.”
jlivingston@durangoherald.com
