Senior guard Junior Garbrah was as hot as a Melbourne summer in the first half and stayed hot. The Melbourne, Australia native scored a career-high 25 points to lead the Fort Lewis Skyhawks to a 91-77 win over New Mexico Highlands Friday night at Whalen Gymnasium.
Fort Lewis improved to 7-1 overall and 3-0 in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference after shooting 49% from the field and 36% from 3-point range.
New Mexico Highlands fell to 4-3 overall and 2-1 in the RMAC after shooting 43% from the field and 50% from 3-point range.
“It was a heck of an RMAC basketball game,” Fort Lewis coach Bob Pietrack said. “That’s really good Division II basketball with two teams competing at a very high level. I’m super proud of our team. Our defense was extremely disruptive all night long with 22 turnovers. They shot it well from three but they could never really get in any type of rhythm because of how hard we were playing.”
Garbrah shot 9 of 13 overall and 5 of 6 from 3-point range to finish with 25 points. Junior forward Isaiah Thompson had a season-high 19 points on 6 of 10 shooting overall along with 2 of 4 from beyond the 3-point arc and 5 of 5 from the free-throw line.
“I was at Pueblo last year,” Thompson said. “I came here for a reason. I just want to win. I don’t care who gets it, who has the spotlight.”
Redshirt forward Amondo Miller Jr. continued his strong play with 11 points off the bench, and senior center Sekou Dembele had a season-high 10 points.
New Mexico Highlands’ Kenard Richardson finished with 35 points on 12 of 18 shooting from the field and 7 of 7 from 3-point range.
“The young man played outstanding,” Pietrack said about Richardson. “He made a lot of shots, I don’t think they were all free.”
Thompson started the first quarter with a 3-pointer, but the Cowboys responded with two of their own. However, Fort Lewis gained an advantage by turning over the Cowboys with its press. The Skyhawks led 14-8 early before leading 18-13 with 11:22 left in the first half after numerous fast-break layups and some nice play from Dembele inside.
Garbrah then turned on takeover mode and had two tough finishes around the basket before making a 3-pointer to fire up the crowd, extending the Skyhawks’ lead to 25-15.
New Mexico Highlands responded as Fort Lewis couldn’t get the ball to junior forward Brayden Carter. The Cowboys went on a 9-0 run to shrink the Skyhawks’ lead to 26-24 with five minutes to go.
But Garbrah and Miller had timely buckets to keep New Mexico Highlands at arm’s reach late in the first half. A layup by Thompson in the paint in the final minute gave Fort Lewis a 42-35 halftime lead.
The Skyhawks continued to force turnovers at the start of the second half and got to the free-throw line. Fort Lewis started the half on a 12-3 run and led 54-38 with 17:42 to go.
But New Mexico Highlands got hot from 3-point range with some timely offensive rebounds. A Richardson floater made the score 63-62 with 9:16 to go.
Then Thompson took over the game for a stretch. He had a put-back layup, then an acrobatic reverse and-one layup to put the Skyhawks up 70-65.
Next, it was Miller’s turn. The Colorado transfer made a 3-pointer, a tough layup and forced a turnover in an 80-second span to put Fort Lewis up 75-66 with less than six minutes left.
“Mondo Miller in the second half was so sensational,” Pietrack said. “There’s been very few times in my career as a head coach where I’ve looked at somebody and said do not take him off the floor, but he was not coming out of the game. He was that good and that disruptive.”
The Skyhawks spent the remainder of the game getting to the free-throw line and the rim, as the Cowboys couldn’t trap Fort Lewis From there, the Skyhawks cruised to victory.
Fort Lewis plays Saturday at home against CSU Pueblo, starting at 6 p.m.
bkelly@durangoherald.com
