The No. 5/6 ranked Fort Lewis College men’s basketball team has been soaring high recently and entered its regular-season finale on a 10-game winning streak with a chance to win the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference outright.
The No. 15/24 Colorado School of Mines, however, shot just a bit better than the Skyhawks on Saturday and escaped Whalen Gymnasium with a 75-64 win.
With the loss, FLC finishes as co-RMAC champions with Colorado Mesa University, tied with 19-4 conference records. The Mavericks, however, won the only game between the two teams to earn the No. 1 seed for the upcoming RMAC Tournament. The tournament’s top four seeds, which also includes Mines and Black Hills State, will host first-round contests, and Mesa will host the semifinals and finals in Grand Junction on March 3-4.
FLC will be the No. 2 seed and was scheduled to host a RMAC quarterfinal at 6 p.m. Tuesday against No. 7 Regis University. If Mesa loses and Fort Lewis wins in the quarterfinals, the tournament will then take place in Durango.
Fort Lewis and Mines both struggled shooting the ball early on Saturday. FLC only made five of its first 21 shots from the field while Mines hit 6-of-18.
The game’s eighth lead change broke a 14-14 tie, putting Mines up 16-14. The Orediggers then went on a run to take a 10-point lead, 30-20.
JaQuaylon Mays, however, made plays all over the court for FLC and had an answer. Mays hit a three, then turned a steal into a fast-break bucket to cut the lead to five, 30-25. A Brenden Boatwight bucket made it a one-score game, 30-27, but Mines scored the next four points to take a 34-27 lead into halftime.
The teams traded baskets to start the second half, but Mines eventually got hot and went on a 13-2 run to take its biggest lead of the night, 49-33.
Akuel Kot then found a groove and scored 10 points in about two minutes of clock, hitting a 3-pointer, a jumper and five free throws for FLC. Mays and Obi Agbim added a pair of free throws each during the 14-4 Skyhawk run that cut Mines’ lead to 53-47.
After Mines scored three points, Kot sunk another 3-pointer to make it 56-50, but the Skyhawks wouldn’t any closer the rest of the way.
FLC only shot 32.8% from the field in the game (19-of-58) compared to a 46.6% clip for Mines (27-of-58). Fort Lewis, however, made its first 20 free throws and finished 20 of 21 from the line.
Kot led FLC with 24 points. Boatwright scored 14, Agbim added 12 and Mays scored 10.
Adam Krasovec led Mines with 20 points while Adam Thistlewood scored 16.
FLC heads to the RMAC Tournament 25-3 overall and 19-3 in the conference while Mines finished its regular season 24-4, 18-4.
The Skyhawks’ first opponent in the tournament is the team who ended their season last year, Regis (12-16, 9-13). The Rangers were the No. 6 seed last year and beat No. 3 Fort Lewis in the first round, 86-81. FLC won the only game between the teams this season 75-62 on Jan. 7 in Durango.
In other first round RMAC games, No. 1 Mesa (24-4, 19-3) will play No. 8 Metropolitan State University of Denver (12-16, 9-13), No. 3 Black Hills (24-4, 18-4) will take on No. 6 Westminster (13-15, 12-10) and No. 4 Mines will face No. 5 Chadron (19-9, 16-6).
If the Skyhawks fall Tuesday, they will have to wait until Selection Sunday on March 5 to see if they’re selected for a spot in the NCAA South-Central Regional.
