FLC men roll past Colorado Mesa in final 10 minutes
Rasmus Bach of Fort Lewis College puts up a shot while playing Colorado Mesa University on Friday night at FLC. Bach finished with 22 points in the Skyhawks’ win.
Jerry McBride/Durango Herald
FLC’s Daniel Hernandez puts up a shot against Colorado Mesa University on Friday night.
Jerry McBride/Durango Herald
DJ Miles of Fort Lewis College drives the lane while playing Colorado Mesa University on Friday night at FLC. Miles led FLC with 24 points behind 5-of-6 shooting from long range.
Jerry McBride/Durango Herald
The Fort Lewis College bench cheers on their teammates during the Colorado Mesa University game on Friday night at FLC. Photo Jerry McBride/Durango Herald
Astrea Reed of Fort Lewis College drives the lane while playing Colorado Mesa University on Friday night at FLC. Photo Jerry McBride/Durango Herald
The Fort Lewis College Cheerleaders cheer on the crowd during the Colorado Mesa University game on Friday night at FLC. Photo Jerry McBride/Durango Herald
Astrea Reed of Fort Lewis College puts up a shot while playing Colorado Mesa University on Friday night at FLC. Photo Jerry McBride/Durango Herald
Shelby Paterson of Fort Lewis College drives the lane while playing Colorado Mesa University on Friday night at FLC. Photo Jerry McBride/Durango Herald
Vivian Gray of Fort Lewis College puts up a shot while playing Colorado Mesa University on Friday night at FLC. Photo Jerry McBride/Durango Herald
Astrea Reed of Fort Lewis College drives the lane while playing Colorado Mesa University on Friday night at FLC. Photo Jerry McBride/Durango Herald
Briana Clah of Fort Lewis College puts up a shot while playing Colorado Mesa University on Friday night at FLC. Photo Jerry McBride/Durango Herald
Vivian Gray of Fort Lewis College pushes the ball to the paint while playing Colorado Mesa University on Friday night at FLC. Photo Jerry McBride/Durango Herald
The Fort Lewis College Cheerleaders cheer on the crowd during the Colorado Mesa University game on Friday night at FLC. Photo Jerry McBride/Durango Herald
Kayla Herrera of Fort Lewis College jumps to force a pass while playing Colorado Mesa University on Friday night at FLC. Photo Jerry McBride/Durango Herald
Rasmus Bach of Fort Lewis College puts up a shot while playing Colorado Mesa University on Friday night at FLC. Photo Jerry McBride/Durango Herald
Alex Semadeni of Fort Lewis College goes to save the ball while playing Colorado Mesa University on Friday night at FLC. Photo Jerry McBride/Durango Herald
Brandon Wilson of Fort Lewis College fights for a rebound while playing Colorado Mesa University on Friday night at FLC. Photo Jerry McBride/Durango Herald
Rasmus Bach of Fort Lewis College puts up a shot while playing Colorado Mesa University on Friday night at FLC. Photo Jerry McBride/Durango Herald
Daniel Hernandez of Fort Lewis College puts up a shot while playing Colorado Mesa University on Friday night at FLC. Photo Jerry McBride/Durango Herald
Michael Ranson of Fort Lewis College plays tough defense while playing Colorado Mesa University on Friday night at FLC. Photo Jerry McBride/Durango Herald
DJ Miles of Fort Lewis College puts up a shot while playing Colorado Mesa University on Friday night at FLC. Photo Jerry McBride/Durango Herald
Fort Lewis College fires up while playing Colorado Mesa University on Friday night at FLC. Photo Jerry McBride/Durango Herald
Daniel Hernandez of Fort Lewis College puts up a shot while playing Colorado Mesa University on Friday night at FLC. Photo Jerry McBride/Durango Herald
Rasmus Bach of Fort Lewis College plays tough defense while playing Colorado Mesa University on Friday night at FLC. Photo Jerry McBride/Durango Herald
DJ Miles of Fort Lewis College puts up a shot while playing Colorado Mesa University on Friday night at FLC. Photo Jerry McBride/Durango Herald
The Fort Lewis College crowd gets into the mens game while playing Colorado Mesa University on Friday night at FLC. Photo Jerry McBride/Durango Herald
DJ Miles of Fort Lewis College drives the lane while playing Colorado Mesa University on Friday night at FLC. Photo Jerry McBride/Durango Herald
Friday night’s game inside Whalen Gymnasium had everything a fan could want from a big rivalry game. A great crowd dressed in white, two great teams, thunderous dunks, back-and-forth 3-point barrages and a strong finish from the home team.
The No. 15 Fort Lewis College men’s basketball team picked up a 96-80 win Friday night against Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference rival Colorado Mesa University of Grand Junction. A strong fan contingent provided a great atmosphere, and the Skyhawks used that momentum in the final 10 minutes of a close game to put the Mavericks away.
“I thought we played pretty well all game long and Mesa played pretty well,” FLC head coach Bob Pietrack said. “Every time we hit them with a big shot, they hit us back with a big shot. Tip my cap to Mesa tonight. We were definitely ready for a heavyweight fight. The environment was electric, and Mesa stood toe-to-toe and didn’t back down a lick. That’s why they are our rivals. It’s a good, clean rivalry that’s fun to be part of.”
FLC (6-1, 3-0 RMAC) played solid defense in the final 10 minutes, and senior Rasmus Bach put the game away with a big blocked shot, a dunk and all-around stellar play. The Skyhawks led 64-61 with 10 minutes, 34 seconds to play. Alex Semadeni had a big dunk, DJ Miles made a pair of free throws to extend the FLC lead to 10 points with 6:08 to play, and the Skyhawks never looked back.
Between that, Bach made a great defensive steal to set up an alley-oop dunk to Marquel Beasley that rocked the gymnasium. Beasley finished with nine points in only 13 minutes, as he battled foul trouble all night.
Bach finished with 22 points, eight assists, four rebounds one block and one steal to only two turnovers. FLC was led offensively by Miles, who scored 24 points on 5-of-6 shooting from 3-point territory and 7-of-12 from the free-throw line.
Daniel Hernandez added 21 points on 4-of-10 shooting from 3 and a perfect 5-of-5 from the foul line.
FLC shot 55.4 percent in the game and 62.5 percent in the second half. FLC’s second-half defense was evident in Colorado Mesa’s dip from 58.3 percent shooting in the first half to 38.9 percent in the second half.
“They just wore us down,” Colorado Mesa head coach Andy Shantz said. “They are such a talented offensive team and so patient, they just wore us down.”
Brandon Wilson had nine points and 10 rebounds for Fort Lewis and played big down the stretch. He also had three blocked shots.
“The rebounds he gets, clutch,” Hernandez said of Wilson.
“He held their other big man to zero points and did a great job today.”
Emilio Acedo led the Mavericks (5-4, 1-2 RMAC) with 22 points. Connor Nichols added 19 points and six rebounds. CJ Davis had 13 points and was the subject of chants from the FLC student section all night.
Shantz said he thought his team became frustrated with officials and the rowdy student section, and it showed down the stretch.
“We let other stuff take us from the game,” Shantz said. “They’re hard enough to beat as it is. When you start worrying about officials and other stuff, they’re gonna beat ya.”
That rowdy crowd helped fuel FLC, which as little as two years ago struggled to get students to games despite being a top-flight team.
“I love it,” Bach said. “You saw me giving them a thumbs up. Some of these guys were here since I was a freshman, and it makes us want to play harder to see them come out and support us.”
FLC will stay home, where Pietrack has gone 35-1 since taking over as head coach, to play Western State Colorado University (3-6, 1-2 RMAC) at 7:30 p.m. Saturday.
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