A slow start was no problem for the Fort Lewis College men’s basketball team in Gunnison, as the Skyhawks went on a 10-0 run to end the first half to take a lead they wouldn’t surrender.
No. 14 FLC (20-3, 16-2 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference) received a spark from DJ Miles in the final five minutes of the first half, as the Skyhawks turned a 32-25 deficit into a 35-32 halftime lead. Miles scored a team-high 19 points, senior Rasmus Bach added 18 in his 94th win in a Skyhawks uniform, and FLC rolled to a 76-69 win Friday night in the first of four consecutive road games.
“DJ Miles and Rasmus Bach were outstanding tonight,” FLC head coach Bob Pietrack said. “Those two were a real one-two punch for us. Road wins like this are tremendous.”
Western State (9-15, 7-11 RMAC) was led in the first half by Quincy Harding, who scored 18 points in the game’s opening 15 minutes. But FLC slowed him down drastically in the second half and he finished with 25 points. Harding led the Mountaineers with six rebounds.
“We quit letting him cook us,” Pietrack said. “He was really cooking in the first half, and I haven’t seen a player on that type of pace offensively in awhile. He was incredible those first 10 minutes, but we settled in.”
Defensively, FLC did a good job slowing Western State’s leading scorers of Ben Beauchamp and Collin Smith. Beauchamp finished with 14 points, and Smith had 12. The duo hit a pair of 3-pointers with just under 10 minutes to go that cut FLC’s lead to 57-56, but Pietrack took a timeout and rallied his team.
“We have championship guys on our team who rise up,” Pietrack said. “These road games are fun for us right now in hostile environments. We’re definitely the enemy. We got five seniors on the road against a rival, this is so fun.”
Brandon Wilson scored 12 points and added seven rebounds for FLC. Riley Farris finished with 11 points off the bench. To go with his 19 points, Miles added six assists, five rebounds and three steals.
FLC reached 20 wins during the regular season for a fourth consecutive season and accomplished the feat in a building in which elite RMAC teams Westminster (19-3, 15-3 RMAC) and Colorado Mines (17-6, 11-6 RMAC) have already lost this season.
Next up, FLC will visit rival Colorado Mesa University (11-13, 7-11 RMAC) at 7:30 p.m. Saturday in Grand Junction.
“Throw records out when we play Mesa,” Pietrack said. “It doesn’t matter what day of the week it is, what time the game is, it’s just about playing. It’s one of the very best rivalries in all of Division II. We’re excited to go to Grand Junction and play in a fun game for both teams.”
jlivingston@durangoherald.com
