Outside shots wouldn’t fall, and the Skyhawks were having a hard time getting anything going. Then Will Morse took over.
Morse, a sophomore guard, came through with 16 points, including four big 3-pointers, to help the Fort Lewis College men’s basketball team erase an 11-point deficit in the second half to take a 79-74 gutty road win at New Mexico Highlands.
“Definition of a gut-check win for us,” FLC associate head coach Bob Pietrack said. “Highlands is a very talented team, and we’re on a back end of a very difficult road trip. We had to fight tooth and nail to get them.”
FLC (17-5, 12-4 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference) battled back to take it’s first lead since 4-2 early in the first half with less than 12 minutes to go in the second. Morse hit a 3 to tie the game at 52, and he hit another to give FLC a 57-54 lead with 10:27 to play. He added a pair of crucial free throws down the stretch along with Austin Haldorson and Jared Smith to help the Skyhawks close out the Cowboys (4-27, 4-13 RMAC).
“Our confidence in Will is very high. He hasn’t been starting lately, but he’s playing a ton of minutes,” Pietrack said. “He’s a ’Hawk and been here and played in big games the last few years. When we needed him most, he was good.”
FLC senior center Alex Herrera played all 40 minutes and finished with 19 points and 15 rebounds, seven coming on the offensive end. He also blocked three shots and came up with a monster dunk to build FLC’s lead to 68-60 with around six minutes to play, boosting the Skyhawks’ momentum.
“What do you say about Chief? Back end of a long road trip and he gets ya 19 and 15. He was a warrior in the second half,” Pietrack said of Herrera. “He knew he wasn’t coming out of the game. The team needed him, and he was there.”
FLC shot only 29 percent through the game’s opening 10 minutes but rallied to finish at 41.8 percent. The Cowboys cooled down in the second half and shot 37.5 percent for the game.
The Skyhawks made 9-of-21 attempts from 3 but was outrebounded 39-36.
FLC led 75-72 with 24 seconds left when Smith made two free throws, and Haldorson added two more to stretch the lead to 79-74 with 14 seconds to play.
“We needed all of those free throws,” Pietrack said. “Our teams throughout the years have been good free-throw shooting teams. We missed some in the first half, but when the pressure was on, all those guys hit them.”
Cade Kloster finished with 15 points on a 5-of-9 shooting night, and Haldorson added 11 points and seven rebounds.
“It took all of us to win the game. We’re proud of the entire team having the resolve to get the result,” Pietrack said.
The Cowboys were led by Jonathon Mines’ 22 points. Ricky Norris added 14. Kaylen Shane had 11 rebounds for N.M. Highlands.
FLC clinched a spot in the RMAC Shootout, the season ending conference tournament, with its win Friday night at Western New Mexico paired with Black Hills State’s overtime loss at Colorado Mesa. Now, FLC is focused on going after a top-four spot in the standings to earn a first-round home game.
But the game’s don’t get any easier for FLC. They will welcome CSU-Pueblo to Whalen Gymnasium at 7:30 p.m. Friday and No. 8 UC-Colorado Springs at 7:30 p.m. Saturday. CSU-Pueblo upset UC-Colorado Springs 67-63 on Saturday night in Pueblo.
“Our league is week to week. We’re very excited to get back home to Whalen, and we’ll have 18 straight days now where we don’t have to travel and leave our beds,” Pietrack said. “We’re going to take advantage of it and get healthy and better.
“This is the best part of the season. The end of the season is going to be a lot of fun.”
jlivingston@durangoherald.com
