Fort Lewis College won 22 consecutive games against conference opponents. Now, it’s lost two in a row.
Six days after having that remarkable streak snapped by the Regis Rangers in Denver, the No. 20 FLC men’s basketball team fell 80-65 to the Metropolitan State University Roadrunners of Denver.
The two losses come after a 12-game winning streak for the Skyhawks early this season and sent FLC to a 12-3 overall record and 7-2 mark in the RMAC, making the race for a regular-season conference championship razor thin with CSU-Pueblo, Colorado Christian, Colorado Mines and now Metro State all in the thick of the hunt with several other teams also within one or two games.
“We got whipped, there’s nothing else I can say,” FLC head coach Bob Pietrack said in a phone interview with The Durango Herald. “They played better than us, coached better than us and beat us. They’re a good team, and hopefully we get to play them again down the road.”
The Skyhawks trailed the Road Runners only 36-33 at halftime. But FLC shot only 12-of-32 from the field in the second half and 41 percent for the game en route to the loss.
On the other side, the Roadrunners (10-4, 6-2 RMAC) also only shot 41 percent, but the play of guard Cameron Williams was sensational. He made highlight reel reverse layups in the second half that gave Metro State all the momentum it needed to pull away. Williams finished with 28 points in 31 minutes of action. he also had seven rebounds.
“He was great,” Pietrack said.
Sunday Dech chipped in 18 points and eight rebounds for the Roadrunners, and Peter Moller had 14 points.
FLC was led by Joshua Blaylock’s 21 points, five rebounds and two assists. He missed his last four shots but played all 40 minutes in the loss.
“Josh is awfully good,” Pietrack said. “I’m not taking him out once the rest of the year. He’s Cadillac, and I’m going to drive it.”
Rasmus Bach had 15 points and four rebounds but was only 5-of-15 shooting from the field. Will Morse added eight points, and Brandon Wilson had seven points and six rebounds.
FLC has one more game on this lengthy road trip before returning home for eight of the final 12 games of the season. Saturday’s game at UC-Colorado Springs will close out a stretch of seven road contests in FLC’s last eight games.
“In this league you lose you lose and you win you win, but you have to keep going with no excuses,” Pietrack said. “There’s no road trip excuses. You have to get ready to play. You know you’re playing back-to-backs, so we have to find a way to muster up a great gameplan, go on the road again and figure out a way to win.”
jlivingston@durangoherald.com
