Fort Lewis College gave the No. 19 team in the country all it could handle in the first half. In the second, the Trailblazers made their run, and the host Skyhawks couldn’t make enough shots to stay with mighty Dixie State.
No. 19 Dixie State University (17-3, 12-2 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference), the first-place team in the conference and a soon-to-be Division I program, handled its final trip to Whalen Gymnasium in Durango with a 90-72 victory Friday night. It was the sixth win in a row for the Trailblazers.
“Disappointed with our level of defense to give up 90 in your own building,” FLC head coach Bob Pietrack said. “I thought we had a really good first half. Thought we really battled, then just weren’t able to sustain the defensive end. We got a gap, then you start taking some longer shots because you get desperate.
“I don’t think it was a 20-point game. I thought it was much closer than that. I don’t know, I thought it was a really good game for about 30 minutes. Then we just, for whatever reason, we’re just not able to concentrate long enough defensively to execute against a really good team. They got loose a bit, started making some 3s and they shot such a high percentage that it was hard for us to overcome.”
It all got away from FLC (13-7, 7-7 RMAC) in a flash midway through the second half after the two teams had battled to a 38-38 tie through one half. Andre Wilson got hot for Dixie State and made three big 3-pointers, and Jacob Nicolds came off the bench and hit a pair of shots, including a 3, and Dixie State stretched a 63-58 lead to 75-60 in a matter of 90 seconds.
Frank Staine, who had a huge first half with three 3s, helped Dixie State close out the game. He finished with 15 points on 5-of-7 shooting and 4-of-5 from 3. Wilson added 11 points on 4-of-5 shooting and 3-of-4 from 3 to go with the play of Dixie State stars Hunter Schofield and Jack Pagenkopf.
Schofield finished with 15 points and 11 rebounds, and Pagenkopf had 11 points and 10 assists. Cameron Chatwin also had 13 points and seven rebounds off the bench to help Dixie State outrebound FLC 37-27.
Dixie State shot 58.5% from the field and made 10-of-22 from 3-point range. Pagenkopf and Dason Youngblood combined for 18 assists and only three turnovers. FLC’s starting guards could not match that.
“I thought we were a lot better sharing the ball in the second half,” Dixie State head coach Jon Judkins said. “They did some things defensively that got us out of our stuff in the first half. They started switching some screens, and they put (Brenden Boatwright) underneath the basket to protect our rolls, so those pops at the top of the key were open. We didn’t see them the first half. The second half, we did, and we started hitting them. Then, they had to come out and guard us, and that opened up the middle.”
Dixie State limited FLC star forward Riley Farris to seven points in the first half. He hit a 3 seconds before the halftime buzzer to tie the game. Dixie State continued to make Farris’ life tough inside the paint in the second half. He finished with 16 points on 6-of-14 shooting. He also had five rebounds. Farris entered the leading scorer in the RMAC at 24.9 points per game. Friday was only the second game all season he has been held under 20 points. Pietrack said Dixie State’s collective size and strength wore Farris down a bit.
“We tried to make him work as hard as he could,” Judkins said. “He’s hard to guard because he can shoot it on the perimeter and he’s really good in the post. It looked like he got a little tired, too. We were trying to run him, and our bigs did well. Our gameplan was to take Farris out of it, and we did a good job to hold him under his average. It’s a good win for us.”
Will Wittman also had 16 points for FLC. Brenden Boatwright had 13 points off the bench. Akuel Kot had 12 points. Logan Hokanson was held to one point, but he had a team-high six assists for FLC.
“There were some positives tonight, no doubt,” Pietrack said. “But for us to beat a team like Dixie State, we need everyone to play their best, and we certainly didn’t have that.”
FLC got out to a hot start with energized play up and down the lineup. The Skyhawks led by as much as 24-14 with 10:17 to go in the first half. But FLC simply didn’t make enough big shots in the second half to stop the runs of Dixie State.
“They’re a good team. There’s a reason they’re in first, and that’s a regional caliber, deep run type team,” Pietrack said. “We gotta play them again later in the year, and hopefully we can do a little bit better. I do credit our team, I thought we came ready to play. Good first half, got the lead up and got a good lead on them. We’re just young in spots, and it’s just hard.”
FLC will prepare for a massive game at 7:30 p.m. Saturday against Westminster College (13-7, 8-6 RMAC), which survived a second-half scare in Alamosa against Adams State to win 71-67 on Friday night.
“Good news is we will play again tomorrow night in a really big game for our team,” Pietrack said. “It’s a game we’re gonna need to have. Westminster is a really good team. They’re very much like Dixie as far as an older group that’s very strong. We’re gonna have to play really well.”
jlivingston@durangoherald.com
