Friday, Mar 4, 2016 5:01 PMUpdated Monday, Mar. 7, 2016 4:14 AM
Last second FTs win Shootout for Skyhawks
With a perfect home record and a Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Shootout championship hanging in the balance, Fort Lewis College junior guard Joshua Blaylock buried two free throws with 0.7 seconds remaining to give the Skyhawks a 73-72 win against Colorado Mines. He earned tournament MVP honors and lifted the RMAC Cup inside Whalen Gymnasium.
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Joshua Blaylock scored 25 points in the conference tournament championship game, refusing to lose as he has all season for Fort Lewis.
Jerry McBride/Durango Herald
03/05/16/- Fort Lewis College mens basketball head coach Bob Pietrack is in shock after winning the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Shootout championship trophy defeating the Colorado School of Mines on Saturday night at FLC.
Jerry McBride/Durango
The 2016 RMAC regular season and RMAC Shootout champion Fort Lewis College men’s basketball team.
Jerry McBride/Durango Herald
After five years in the Fort Lewis College men’s basketball program, senior Cade Kloster was able to kiss the RMAC Shootout championship trophy.
Jerry McBride/Durango Herald
The Fort Lewis College bench exploded with joy when Joshua Blaylock hit the game’s winning free throws.
Jerry McBride/Durango
Fort Lewis College teamamtes jump up from the bench after the clock ran out and winning the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Shootout championship trophy defeating the Colorado School of Mines on Saturday night at FLC. Photo by Jerry McBride/Durango
Fort Lewis College players hold up the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Shootout championship trophy after defeating Colorado School of Mines on Saturday night at FLC. Photo by Jerry McBride/Durango
Joshua Blaylock of Fort Lewis College puts up a shot while playing Colorado School of Mines on Saturday night at FLC. FLC went on to win the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Shootout championship trophy. Photo by Jerry McBride/Durango
Cade Kloster of Fort Lewis College kisses the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Shootout championship trophy after defeating the Colorado School of Mines on Saturday night at FLC. Photo by Jerry McBride/Durango
Austin Haldorson of Fort Lewis College gets hit in the face by Gokul Natesan of Colorado School of Mines on Saturday night at Whalen Gymnasium at Fort Lewis College during the the RMAC Shootout championship game. Photo by Jerry McBride/Durango
Cade Kloster of Fort Lewis College puts up a shot while playing the Colorado School of Mines on Saturday night at FLC. Photo by Jerry McBride/Durango
Jared Smith of Fort Lewis College kisses the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Shootout championship trophy after defeating the Colorado School of Mines on Saturday night at FLC. Photo by Jerry McBride/Durango
Cade Kloster of Fort Lewis College kisses the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Shootout championship trophy after defeating the Colorado School of Mines on Saturday night at FLC. Photo by Jerry McBride/Durango
The Fort Lewis College mens basketball team pose with the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Shootout championship trophy after defeating Colorado School of Mines on Saturday night at FLC. Photo by Jerry McBride/Durango
Joshua Blaylock of Fort Lewis College is fouled in the last seconds of the game while playing Colorado School of Mines on Saturday night at FLC. Blaylock made the free throws and winning the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Shootout championship trophy. Photo by Jerry McBride/Durango
Fort Lewis College mens basketball teammates lift Josua Blaylock after he hit key free throws in the last seconds of the game and winning the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Shootout championship trophy defeating the Colorado School of Mines on Saturday night at FLC. Photo by Jerry McBride/Durango
Will Morse of Fort Lewis College puts up a shot while playing Colorado School of Mines on Saturday night at FLC. FLC won the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Shootout championship trophy. Photo by Jerry McBride/Durango
Joshua Blaylock holds the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Shootout championship trophy after defeating the Colorado School of Mines on Saturday night at FLC. Photo by Jerry McBride/Durango
Austin Haldorson of Fort Lewis College drives the lane while playing Colorado School of Mines on Saturday night at FLC. FLC went on to win the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Shootout championship trophy. Photo by Jerry McBride/Durango
A large crowd showed up to cheer on Fort Lewis College while playing Colorado School of Mines on Saturday night at FLC. FLC won the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Shootout championship trophy. Photo by Jerry McBride/Durango
Joshua Blaylock of Fort Lewis College puts up a shot while playing Colorado School of Mines on Saturday night at Whalen Gymnasium at FLC during the the RMAC Shootout championship game. Photo by Jerry McBride/Durango
Joshua Blaylock is pushed out onto the court by his Fort Lewis College mens basketball teammates after being named tournament MVP and winning the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Shootout championship trophy after defeating Colorado School of Mines on Saturday night at FLC. Photo by Jerry McBride/Durango
Jared Smith of Fort Lewis College watches his shot fall in while playing Colorado School of Mines on Saturday night at FLC. FLC went on to win the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Shootout championship trophy. Photo by Jerry McBride/Durango
Fort Lewis College men’s basketball teammates jump up from the bench after the clock ran out and winning the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Shootout championship trophy defeating Colorado School of Mines on Saturday night at FLC. Photo by Jerry McBride/Durango
Fort Lewis College men’s basketball head coach Bob Pietrack was in shock after winning the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Shootout championship trophy defeating Colorado School of Mines in a very close game on Saturday night at FLC. Photo by Jerry McBride/Durango
Rasmus Bach of Fort Lewis College plays defense while playing Colorado School of Mines on Saturday night at FLC. FLC won the game and the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Shootout championship trophy. Photo by Jerry McBride/Durango
Kofi Josephs of Fort Lewis College puts up a shot while playing Colorado School of Mines on Saturday night at Whalen Gymnasium at FLC during the the RMAC Shootout championship game. Photo by Jerry McBride/Durango
Rasmus Bach of Fort Lewis College is fouled while playing Colorado School of Mines on Saturday night at FLC. FLC won the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Shootout championship trophy. Photo by Jerry McBride/Durango
Will Morse of Fort Lewis College ends up with Ryan Stephan on his back while playing Colorado School of Mines on Saturday night at FLC. FLC won the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Shootout championship trophy. Photo by Jerry McBride/Durango
Cade Kloster Fort Lewis College hugs teammates after winning the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Shootout championship trophy after defeating the Colorado School of Mines on Saturday night at FLC. Photo by Jerry McBride/Durango
Jared Smith of Fort Lewis College dives for a loose ball while playing Colorado School of Mines on Saturday night at FLC. FLC went on to win the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Shootout championship trophy. Photo by Jerry McBride/Durango
Colorado School of Mines head coach Pryor Orser talks to his team during a time out on Saturday night while playing Fort Lewis College at FLC. FLC won the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Shootout championship trophy. Photo by Jerry McBride/Durango
The Fort Lewis College team could hardly watch the last seconds of the close game while playing Colorado School of Mines on Saturday night at FLC. FLC won the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Shootout championship trophy. Photo by Jerry McBride/Durango
Will Morse talks to his Fort Lewis College teammates while playing Colorado School of Mines on Saturday night at FLC. FLC won the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Shootout championship trophy. Photo by Jerry McBride/Durango
Cade Kloster of Fort Lewis College battles under the net while playing Colorado School of Mines on Saturday night at Whalen Gymnasium at FLC during the RMAC Shootout championship game. Photo by Jerry McBride/Durango
Joshua Blaylock of Fort Lewis College makes a behind the back pass while playing Colorado School of Mines on Saturday night at FLC. FLC went on to win the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Shootout championship trophy. Photo by Jerry McBride/Durango
Fort Lewis College men’s basketball team stay back while watching Joshua Blaylock hit key free throws in the last seconds of the game and winning the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Shootout championship trophy defeating Colorado School of Mines on Saturday night at FLC. Photo by Jerry McBride/Durango
Trailing by one with less than 10 seconds to play, an undefeated home record and a conference championship on the line, Joshua Blaylock refused to lose.
It was fitting that the No. 1 Fort Lewis College and No. 2 Colorado Mines men’s basketball teams ended up in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference’s Shootout championship game. They were the league’s best teams in the regular season and the only ones regionally ranked heading into the postseason. The two juggernauts put on a show for the ages on Saturday.
After a furious Mines comeback was completed in the final minute to give the Orediggers their first lead of the second half, Blaylock had seven seconds to decide the outcome. As he has done time and again this season, the junior point guard took the Skyhawks on his shoulders and got the job done. Blaylock drove the length of the floor, found the baseline and cut to the basket and drew contact and a foul. He made two free throws with 0.7 seconds left on the clock to lead FLC to the RMAC promised land with a 73-72 win.
“Coach called the play, and I just wanted to get it into the corner,” Blaylock said. “They did a good job getting in the passing lanes, so I just found a way to the basket, drew some contact and knocked them down at the line.”
After winning the regular season RMAC championship, Saturday night’s win on Bob Hofman Court inside Whalen Gymnasium gave FLC a clean sweep of both RMAC titles this season. It also gave the Skyhawks a 27-3 overall record, the best in program history, and a perfect 17-0 home record heading into NCAA Division II tournament play.
Blaylock had 25 points and was properly named the tournament’s MVP after the thrilling win.
Cade Kloster and Jared Smith each had 13 points in what is likely to be the two fifth-year seniors’ final game at Whalen Gymnasium.
“It was just an incredible game, and Colorado Mines deserves a lot of credit,” Fort Lewis head coach Bob Pietrack said. “They deserved to win just as much as we did. The basketball gods just got it to go our way this time.”
It didn’t go Fort Lewis’ way at the start, and it didn’t take long for the two heavy hitters to take big swings at each other.
Colorado Mines started the game on a 5-0 run, and FLC responded with an 8-0 push that was answered by 7-0 Orediggers run. The appropriately named Shootout was on from there.
Mines (24-7) came out playing an aggressive 2-3 zone defense that had the Skyhawks a bit out of sorts. Eventually, Fort Lewis started shooting over the top of the zone and did it with success.
FLC made eight 3-pointers in the first half, but the final one of the half was made by Colorado Mines’ Caleb Waitsman. The buzzer-beater sent Colorado Mines charging to the locker room fired up with momentum despite trailing 38-36.
The Skyhawks quickly extended the lead to six in the first minutes of the second half, and the lead hit double-digits with 13 minutes to play.
As soon as the Skyhawks seemed to be on the brink of another second half knockout punch, the Orediggers rallied.
An 11-0 run pulled the visitors to within a basket, and the two teams traded buckets and stops down the stretch. Inside the final minute, up 71-70, Kloster was fouled and missed the front end of a one-and-one opportunity at the free-throw line.
With a chance to take a late lead, Waitsman was fouled at the other end and made both free throws to give the Orediggers their first advantage since early in the game.
That set the stage for Blaylock’s heroic effort.
“It was a really, really good basketball game, and we couldn’t have asked for a better matchup to settle our conference tournament,” Colorado Mines head coach Pryor Orser said. “Coach Pietrack has done a heck of a job, but he obviously had great mentoring. Coach (Bob) Hofman and him have a great system going over there, and I can’t say enough about what they’ve built here in Durango.”
Natesan and Waitsman led Colorado Mines with 17 points. Natesan was held to just one second half point.
The win marked the first time the Skyhawks won the RMAC Shootout since 2011. Fort Lewis has now won five regular season conference championships and six RMAC Shootout championships.
In his first year as coach, Pietrack set the bar awfully high as the interim head coach after replacing Hofman, the longtime FLC leader.
Before the season began, the Skyhawks were picked by the other RMAC coaches to finish sixth. Pietrack and his guys blew right through the transitional period, and it was evident early that something special was brewing.
What started with an impressive exhibition win at Division I Wyoming turned into the best men’s basketball season in the history of Fort Lewis College.
Instead of struggling through a new system and needing time to get acclimated to a coaching change, the Skyhawks dominated the league and disposed of one RMAC rival after another in a legendary season.
“This whole season has just been unreal, and this is the best team I’ve ever played on,” Kloster said. “It’s just been a perfect way to end my career, and I can’t thank Coach Pietrack enough for the job he’s done and the sacrifices he’s made for us.”
Fort Lewis finished with a school record 24 regular-season wins while taking the RMAC regular season title. The RMAC Shootout opening round win against CSU-Pueblo gave Pietrack and his crew the all-time record for wins at Fort Lewis with 25. The record was extended to 27 after Saturday’s win.
“I can’t begin to explain how proud I am of these guys,” Pietrack said. “To go 17-0 at home in this conference is unfathomable. It’s been such a special season I haven’t even had the chance to process the last five months.”
The show doesn’t stop here for Fort Lewis or Colorado Mines, who might even meet down the road for the fourth time in next week’s NCAA South Central Regional Tournament. The Skyhawks will take a 15-game winning streak into the eight-team regional next weekend.
Both teams will learn their fates Sunday night when the Division II brackets are announced.
