Fort Lewis men’s basketball got 2024 started with its biggest win of the regular season, a 116-67 blowout over Navajo Tech Tuesday night at Whalen Gymnasium.
The Skyhawks improved to 10-1 overall after shooting 58% from the field and 40% from 3-point range. Fort Lewis went 30 of 39 from the free-throw line, which was a season-high in attempts and makes from the charity stripe.
“Coming back after break, we've had a long layoff and I’m just very excited to see our team play as hard as we did,” Fort Lewis coach Bob Pietrack said. “We played 11 guys 11 minutes or more as we just needed to get back on the floor. We needed to continue to work on the things that have made us successful to this point. Now we flip our attention to this four-game RMAC road trip that is massive.”
Fort Lewis’ last game was on Dec. 16 against Westminster University. Senior guard Malik Whitaker led the Skyhawks with 17 points on 4 of 6 shooting from the field and 9 of 9 shooting from the free-throw line against Navajo Tech.
Senior guard Junior Garbrah also had 16 points on 6 of 9 shooting from the field and 2 of 4 from 3-point range. Junior forward Brayden Carter had 15 points on 5 of 7 shooting from the field and the charity stripe to go along eight rebounds off the bench.
Navajo Tech fell to 0-7 overall after shooting 37% from the field and 36% from the 3-point line. Kane Kenyon had 15 points on 6 of 10 shooting and 3 of 6 from downtown to lead Navajo Tech. Albrandon ByJoe had 14 points, while Dontrelle Denesto had 12 points.
“Anytime you force 27 turnovers and hold them under 40% shooting as a coach, you’re happy,” Pietrack said. “Obviously, we like seeing the points on the board. I think our offense has gotten better and better as the year has gone on which we've hoped it would and it has. The main thing is, you have to burn our lungs again, get back out there. This whole thing was just about getting ready for South Dakota Mines.”
Fort Lewis got out to a fast start, up 9-0 just 90 seconds in and later stretching that lead 27-7. The lead stayed at around 20 points until the Skyhawks finished strong. A buzzer-beating layup by redshirt sophomore Amondo Miller Jr. gave Fort Lewis a 60-28 lead at halftime.
In the second half, the Skyhawks kept increasing the lead, and junior guard Samier Kinsler hit a jump shot to put Fort Lewis up 88-42. The 100-point mark was broken with a jumper by Kinsler, putting Fort Lewis up 101-51 with 8:54 to go. Bench players redshirt freshmen Chris Schlesinger, Luke Hutto and Garrett Arnold got in and played the last five minutes as the Skyhawks cruised to victory.
Fort Lewis hits the road to play at South Dakota Mines on Friday at 7:30 p.m., followed by a trip to Black Hills State on Saturday at 6 p.m. The Skyhawks will play at UCCS and at Regis University the following weekend.
“We haven't played many road games,” Pietrack said. “We only played the two true road games outside of Whalen Gymnasium. We've taken care of home court. But, certainly, this will be a road test and we're going to find out a lot about our team and where we're at and what the year will look like, based on how we play over these four games.”
bkelly@durangoherald.com
