Late Tuesday night, Daniel Hernandez became internet famous.
The 5-foot-8 junior guard for the No. 11 Fort Lewis College men’s basketball team brought fans inside Whalen Gymnasium to their feet last Saturday with a monstrous blocked shot of Colorado Mesa 6-foot-8 forward Ludvig Saldh.
It only took three days for the video to reach ESPN, which released the clip on its website as a top play.
FLC radio broadcasters Mark Jastorff and Rick O’Block can be heard calling the play. The ball went out of bounds and back to Colorado Mesa, and the highlight-reel play put an exclamation mark on Fort Lewis’ 30th consecutive home win.
FLC head coach Bob Pietrack said it was the only FLC men’s basketball play he can remember to make the rounds on ESPN. He’s been to every game since 2000 as either a player, assistant coach or head coach.
The Twitter account for SportsCenter posted the link, which received more than 10,000 interactions in less than 12 hours. On Facebook, the video had nearly 3,000 reactions.
Hernandez is from El Paso, Texas, and is a junior college transfer from Midland College and Cochise College.
The Coronado High School product has been a major spark plug off the bench for FLC this season. He’s averaged 10.4 points, 2.2 rebounds and 1.,3 assists in 19.1 minutes per game.
He now has two blocked shots to his name, none bigger than Saturday’s now infamous swat.
jlivingston@durangoherald.com
