If the Fort Lewis College men’s basketball team is going to end up with a share of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference regular-season title, the Skyhawks are going to need some help from Metro State.
Fort Lewis (23-5, 18-4 RMAC) knew the final game on the schedule at Westminster (16-7, 16-5 RMAC) was going to be a tough one to win, and it turned out to be just that. The Skyhawks and Griffins exchanged big runs throughout the game, but FLC couldn’t muster up the final one, as it lost the regular-season finale 84-78. FLC will need Metro State to beat Colorado Mines on Saturday if they are to gain a share of the RMAC title. No matter what happens, Fort Lewis will finish as the second seed and host an RMAC Shootout opening-round game Tuesday. Colorado Mines will host the RMAC Shootout Final Four in Golden next weekend if it wins its RMAC Shootout opener on Tuesday.
“Westminster played very well, and we didn’t play good enough to win on the road,” Fort Lewis head coach Bob Pietrack said in a phone interview with The Durango Herald. “It was back-and-forth for most of the game. They’d make a run and we’d make a run, but we made too many mistakes and we just have to play better defense to beat good teams like Westminster.”
Joshua Blaylock led FLC with 30 points, but the supporting cast didn’t provide enough of a lift to pull the team through. Rasmus Bach had a 4-for-13 shooting effort and scored 13 points. Daniel Hernandez added 12 points on 5-for-17 from the field. No other FLC player scored in double figures.
The Griffins led 46-41 at halftime, and their offense was efficient throughout the game. Westminster shot 57-percent for the game to FLC’s 40-percent. The Fort Lewis offense is struggling to find a way to duplicate its success without senior point guard Will Morse, who is out with an illness.
“If any team loses its point guard this time of year it’s going to be tough to replace him,” Pietrack said. “But, we have plenty of capable players and we have to play with some more urgency. Our season is going to be on the line Tuesday, and we’ll see how the guys respond to that.”
jfries@durangoherald.com
