Throughout the first 25 minutes of a heavyweight Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference matchup between Fort Lewis College and Colorado School of Mines, it appeared the Skyhawks had knocked down the Orediggers in a prize fight and the referee was just about to signal a knockout.
After trailing by 23 points in the second half, the Orediggers came back to within striking distance, but Fort Lewis prevailed and won 73-63 Friday night at Whalen Gymnasium.
The fourth-ranked Skyhawks improved to 18-2 and 13-1 in the RMAC after shooting 53% from the field and 33% from 3-point range. Fort Lewis currently sits atop the conference standings following wins over Mines and Colorado Mesa.
Tenth-ranked Mines fell to 18-4 overall and 12-2 in the RMAC after shooting 48% from the field and 38% from beyond the arc in the loss. It was the Orediggers’ first loss since Dec. 1.
“It was a great win for our program,” Fort Lewis coach Bob Pietrack said. “Our players played their tails off all night long. Credit Colorado Mines, obviously a championship-caliber team and program. They had won 14 in a row, we got them with a pretty good punch and they came all the way back, so credit them. But make no mistake about it, we played tonight in a manner that would beat a lot of teams if not every team.”
Junior guard Obi Agbim led the Skyhawks with 20 points off the bench on 8 of 13 shooting from the field and 3 of 7 shooting from downtown. Junior guard Jhei-R Jones had 12 points, while senior guard Malik Whitaker had 11 points and a team-high six rebounds.
Colorado School of Mines’ Markus Pastorcic-Straun finished with 13 points on 5 of 8 shooting from the field and 3 of 7 shooting from the free-throw line. Cade Mankle had 11 points.
Whitaker started out the game with two 3-pointers for the Skyhawks to give them a 6-4 lead early on.
The Orediggers looked like chickens with their heads cut off on offense going up against Fort Lewis’ press in the opening minutes. Colorado School of Mines had nine turnovers in the first nine minutes.
“The story of the game was our defense,” Pietrack said. “That was the ticket tonight. We forced 17 turnovers in the first half, 22 overall. The game was won on the defensive end for us.”
Pietrack also credited associate head coach Ty Danielson and assistant coach Jeff Evans with getting the team ready defensively and putting the players in the right spots.
Mines finally found some offense and put in two layups to cut the Skyhawks’ lead to 19-11 with 8:50 left in the first half.
Mines went to a zone defense, Pietrack put in junior guard Tristan Hurdle in the middle and Whitaker hit another 3-pointer to put Fort Lewis up 24-13 with 7:34 left.
Hurdle made an instant impact off the bench with a beautiful midrange fadeaway and a layup high off the glass.
Agbim had a beautiful shake into a jump shot plus the foul. He made the free-throw to push the Skyhawks lead to 33-19 with 3:18 left.
The Skyhawks extended its lead to start the second half with a mix of post-ups, drives and 3-pointers. Agbim created a lot of separation with a step-back 3-pointer that drew applause from the crowd and put Fort Lewis up 44-27 with 16:50 left.
Colorado School of Mines looked shellshocked. There was little ball movement, penetration and a lot of contested jump shots. Senior guard Junior Garbrah had a beautiful drive and finished with a reverse layup to push the Skyhawks’ lead to 50-27 with 14:16 left.
The Orediggers started chipping away at the Skyhawks’ lead, though.
A 3-pointer by Reagan Koch cut the Fort Lewis lead to 52-36. Another 3-pointer and a trip to the free-throw line for the Orediggers cut the Skyhawks lead to 55-43, and a hoop and a foul by Mines off a turnover cut the lead to 55-45 with 8:29 left.
Sam Beskind later cut the deficit to eight with a driving layup with 4:44 left.
“We had defensive breakdowns, we let them in the paint and gave them straight-line drives,” Pietrack said about his team’s defense during the Orediggers’ second-half run.
However, Agbim had an answer at the other end with a 3-point from the left wing to push the lead back to double-digits.
“My experience helps because I’ve been here before,” Agbim said. “I’ve been in the moment before. Besides that experience it’s just time in the gym outside of practice, it gives me the confidence to take that shot.”
Pastorcic-Straun had success getting to the basket all second half for Mines. But when he got fouled on a drive with 34 seconds down 69-60, he missed two free throws. Agbim had an open dunk on the other end to seal the game.
Fort Lewis will host Metropolitan State University of Denver on Saturday, starting at 6 p.m.
“They’re a really good team,” Pietrack said about the 13-6 Roadrunners. “Some of their losses have come from injuries, they had COVID where they missed two of their front-line players and the league is very good. Metro is as talented as a team we’ve played all year.”
bkelly@durangoherald.com
