Playing for the first time since Jan. 3 and without their All-American senior forward, the Fort Lewis College men’s basketball team took on a gargantuan task Friday night when it welcomed the sixth-ranked team in the nation.
No. 6 Colorado Mesa University visited Whalen Gymnasium in Durango on Friday night with the longest active winning steak in all of NCAA Division II men’s basketball at 13 games dating back to the end of the 2019-20 season. The Skyhawks were without Riley Farris, the team’s leading scorer, rebounder, assist man and the conference’s leader in blocked shots per game. Though FLC had played only once since Dec. 19 while the Mavericks entered the game in peak mid-season form, none of it mattered.
Taking on the prize fighter mentality of head coach Bob Pietrack and the toughness and fierce competitive spirit of associate head coach Daniel Steffensen, the Skyhawks stood toe-to-toe with their arch nemesis. But the ball bounced against the Skyhawks in the final seconds of overtime, and the Mavericks held on for a 74-72 road win to improve to 11-0 this season in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference.
“I’m really proud of our team for how hard they fought. Mesa has a great team,” FLC head coach Bob Pietrack said. “Obviously, disappointed we didn’t win the game, but awfully proud of the effort and the fight in our guys.
“We preach in our program about the program being bigger than anybody. It’s bigger than the players, it’s bigger than the coaches. We fought hard for our program tonight. Just a little short but feel we are moving in the right direction. These losses are hard, but one of the great things about athletics is you get to keep playing.”
It was the second overtime game for FLC in as many games played so far in 2021. The last came Jan. 3 at home against South Dakota Mines in a game in which FLC was without three players because of COVID-19. After four consecutive postponed games, FLC finally took the court again and found itself once more in an overtime classic. It was only the team’s third conference home game all season.
With only three home wins against teams ranked inside the top 10 of the NABC Division II poll, the Skyhawks looked for one of the biggest wins in the history of the storied program. But Colorado Mesa spoiled the party.
“This is a special group and they really sort of believe they’re gonna find a way to get it done. They stay poised,” Mesa head coach Michael DeGeorge said. “I gotta give Fort Lewis a lot of credit. They fought incredibly hard without Riley Farris tonight and really outplayed us. We were really fortunate to get out of here with a win.”
FLC (2-4, 1-4 RMAC) was led by 16 points and nine rebounds from forward Brenden Boatwright, who started in place of Farris. It was Boatwright’s first game since the 79-73 loss Dec. 19 at Colorado School of Mines. He was held to 4-of-12 shooting from the field but made all eight of his free throws and played 33 minutes. Boatwright drew seven fouls and took five charges in the game.
“Boatwright hadn’t played in 40 days and battled a very serious illness,” Pietrack said. “I couldn’t be prouder of Boat. We saw it coming before Christmas when we played at Mines, Boat is going to be an all-league caliber player. If we could ever get everybody back together again, I think he’ll continue to blossom.”
Georgie Dancer, one of the league’s best guards, led the Mavericks with 26 points on 8-of-15 shooting and 8-of-10 at the foul line. Forward Ethan Menzies added 19 points and 12 rebounds.
“Georgie has been fantastic for us and having a phenomenal year in all aspects,” DeGeorge said. “Tonight he had so many defensive plays and also carried the load for us offensively.
“We’re having a lot of fun together as a group right now, and this has been a surreal experience for us this year.”
FLC (2-4, 1-4 RMAC) led by as much as 10 in the second half at 57-47 with 10 minutes, 45 seconds to play in regulation before a long stretch without a basket before senior guard Cesar Molina hit a step back 3-pointer late in the shot clock that put FLC out front 60-63 with 6:38 to go. Molina added 10 points in the game.
Behind the penetrating drives of Dancer followed by the relentless attack of freshman guard Blaise Threatt, the Mavericks would take a 63-62 lead that grew as large as 65-62 with 2:15 to play. Threatt finished with 11 points in the win.
Sophomore guard Akuel Kot, who finished with 15 points, hit a timely 3 for the Skyhawks to tie it once more. It would be a Kot assist to Will Wittman for a dunk that again helped FLC tie the game at 67-67 in the final minute.
After playing stout defense, FLC got the ball back with 3.1 seconds on the clock. The Skyhawks took a timeout and then inbounded the ball to Kot, who ran up the floor and heaved a running 3-pointer at the buzzer. The shot was a little left off the rim, and the game went to overtime.
With both teams going back and forth in the extra five minutes, it would be a Wittman-blocked shot of Colorado Mesa leading scorer Ethan Menzies that got the ball in the hands of Kot, who was fouled and made two free throws to make it 71-71 with 1:40 to go.
But Dancer would make a tough basket with a left hook over the top of FLC senior Corey Seng to give the Mavericks a 73-71 lead.
Seng would go to the foul line with 42.9 seconds to go. He went 1-of-2, giving Mesa the ball back with a one-point lead. But Menzies would be called for a travel with 13.5 seconds to go, and FLC had the chance at the game-winning basket.
Pietrack drew up a play for Kot to drive off the right side of the floor. He had the option to pull up for a jump shot or try to get to the basket. But with time ticking down and tight defense closing in on him, Kot had the ball go off his own leg out of bounds. Colorado Mesa’s Reece Johnson would be fouled and made 1-of-2 at the free-throw line with 1.8 seconds to go to ice the game.
“Akuel is a great player, it just didn’t work out,” Pietrack said. “A lot of good plays tonight from a lot of players. That one we’d like to have back, but we have a lot of confidence in Akuel. If we had to do it again, He was having a great game, very good off the dribble, and we would do it again.”
DeGeorge credited Dancer for staying in front of Kot and being able to knock it off his leg in the crucial moment.
Wittman sent a statement that FLC was in it for the long haul at the end of the first half with a monster two-hand dunk over his defender. He then ran down the court and blocked a shot at the rim shortly before the buzzer sounded to send FLC into the locker room with a 34-29 lead. Wittman finished the game with 10 points, four rebounds and three blocked shots, as he regularly came up with huge plays when FLC needed them most on both ends of the floor.
Though the Skyhawks played tough, it was another heartbreak after playing so tough once again against stacked odds only to come up empty handed.
“These games, they’re coin flips,” Pietrack said. “Sometimes it lands heads, sometimes it lands tails. We’ve been on the wrong end of it, but that doesn’t mean we’re not really close to being a really good team. I think if we can battle the adversity, we’ve been handed some pretty tough adversity considering this month logically if you think of it. We’ve played two games, both overtime heart breakers. Didn’t have everybody that you’d like to have at the ballgame and asked the men in our team to stay resilient and keep pushing forward and hope some of those rainclouds turn into some sunshine pretty quick.”
The Skyhawks will welcome Westminster College at 6 p.m. Saturday. Though it is nearly February, it will be FLC’s first time playing on consecutive days all season in a conference that typically plays on back-to-back nights.
“I don’t know what to expect tomorrow. We’ve played very little, we have not played a back-to-back and have a bit of a short deck player-wise. I don’t know. Overtime on a Friday night when haven’t played a back-to-back would not be the recipe you sign up for. We will adjust and stretch some minutes in the first half to give ourselves a chance to win.
“You gotta remember what a great team Westminster is. They’re a very good team, great coach. This league is tough, it’s a rough ocean. You get knocked down by a wave, you better get up pretty quick. The next wave is coming.”
jlivingston@durangoherald.com
