The Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference served the Fort Lewis College men’s basketball team the perfect bounce-back opponent on a platter.
The Skyhawks blew a 14-point lead in their last game and fell to Adams State in overtime, so they’re looking for some good news.
FLC (12-6, 9-5 RMAC) will host last-place Western N.M. (1-17, 1-14 RMAC) at 7:30 p.m. Friday and N.M. Highlands (10-9, 7-8 RMAC) at 7:30 p.m. Saturday.
Bingo.
Western N.M. has lost its last 11 games and ranks last in the RMAC in scoring margin, scoring offense, rebounds per game and 3-pointers made.
Despite that, FLC head coach Bob Hofman isn’t letting the Skyhawks overlook the Mustangs.
“Their record is very deceptive. They’ve got a new coach, a new team, and he came into a situation where he didn’t have any time to recruit,” he said. “The team is much better than the record.”
Marcos Castrillo leads the Mustangs in scoring at 12.8 points per game and ranks seventh in the RMAC at 6.6 rebounds per game.
Mustangs’ point guard Terrez Scott leads the conference in assists (6.6 per game) and assist-to-turnover ratio (2.0).
N.M. Highlands, on the other hand, sits squarely in the RMAC pack. The Cowboys are one of five teams with between six and eight conference losses. They have the second-worst scoring defense in the RMAC at 84.4 points per game, just ahead of Colorado Christian’s 86 points per game.
“This year has been a really up and down year for them. They have some of the good wins in the league like beating (CSU-Pueblo) at Pueblo easily, and they’ve lost some tough games at home,” Hofman said. “They’re the most dangerous team in the league. They’re a team nobody wants to play in the playoffs.”
The Cowboys lead the conference in blocks at 5.11 per game.
FLC is second at 4.83 blocks per game; most of the Skyhawks blocks come from 6-10 center Alex Herrera, who leads the conference individually, blocking 3.8 shots per game.
Mannie Cass leads N.M. Highlands and ranks third in the conference at 1.5 blocks per game, while Augy French sits fifth at 1.3 per game.
Cass also leads the Cowboys in scoring (17.9 points per game), rebounding (5.5 boards per game) and 3-pointers per game (1.6).
N.M. Highlands has lost two consecutive games and three out of four heading into this weekend’s games.
The Cowboys will play at Adams State on Friday.
FLC has split its last two weekends after winning six consecutive games.
“Obviously this weekend is extrememly important; hopefully our crowd will understand that,” Hofman said. “I think that our team’s getting better, and we’re going to keep getting better. Hopefully that will pay off.”
kgrabowski@durangoherald.com
