The Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference basketball schedule can be brutal at times. But, when the rare Friday night off comes around, a fresh team on Saturday has a clear advantage, and that was the difference when the Westminster Griffins came to Whalen Gymnasium for the first of two meetings with the No. 18 Fort Lewis College Skyhawks.
Coming off a tough stretch of road games in which the Fort Lewis men’s basketball team went a perfect 3-0, head coach Bob Pietrack and his boys knew what their opponents were feeling, and they ran them ragged. Westminster had the talent to matchup, but the depth and energy reserves just weren’t there. When fatigue kicked in for the visitors, a close game turned into a double-digit FLC lead, and the Skyhawks pulled out a tough 90-83 home win Saturday.
It was the team’s 11th consecutive win and 21st in a row against RMAC opponents, stretching the school-record home win streak to 24.
Joshua Blaylock led FLC with 25 points and was a perfect 14-for-14 from the foul line while the rest of the team was a dismal 10-for-20.
Brandon Wilson had a double-double with 14 points and 12 rebounds, and Daniel Hernandez was a pest for the opponents to deal with again as he scored 15 points off the bench.
“They were really good, but we were at home and, more importantly, we were really well-rested,” Pietrack said. “I think that made a big difference. They played Adams State (Friday), and I knew if we could get a lead in the last 10 minutes and I spaced out our bench minutes better we’d have a huge advantage there, and we did.”
Pietrack emptied his bench in the first half, while the Griffins didn’t have the kind of depth for Griffins head coach Norm Parrish to do the same. The fatigue factor began to show early as the visitors were gasping for air in the first half trying to keep up with fresh Skyhawks.
FLC (11-1, 6-0 RMAC) led 43-40 after a tightly-played opening 20 minutes in which neither team led by more than six points. Westminster’s Dayon Goodman, however, looked as fresh as anyone. The versatile forward had 17 points by halftime, but he slowed considerably in the second half and was held scoreless in the final 10 minutes of play.
During second half timeouts, the Griffins (4-4, 4-2 RMAC) slowly walked to the bench, mouths open, while FLC jogged guys in and out with ease. The lack of depth didn’t only cost the visitors fatigue-wise but foul trouble also became a problem, as big man Marcus Bryce sat out much of the second half with four fouls.
Wilson took advantage from there.
“They had a couple good bigs, but I was just trying to be aggressive and seal whoever was in there,” he said. “My teammates found me in good spots, and I was able to finish.
The lead grew to double-digits, and the feisty Griffins didn’t have enough left in the tank to come back.
“We don’t want to make excuses, but the RMAC schedule does us no favors,” Parrish said. “They’re a physical team and, yeah, fatigue was a factor. In reality, coming into this game we wanted to make it a close one down the stretch and give ourselves a chance to win. I think we did that.”
Fort Lewis will get more rest for the holiday break before coming back to face Chadron State on the road Dec. 30.
The Skyhawks are the only RMAC team unbeaten in conference play with Colorado Christian and CSU-Pueblo both 5-1.
jfries@durangoherald.com
