The No. 24 Fort Lewis College men’s basketball team will open the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference schedule next weekend, and the win Saturday in Golden sent a message to the conference favorites.
Colorado Mines was picked as the top RMAC team in the preseason poll, even though Fort Lewis (5-1) beat the Orediggers three times and won the league last season. One night after the Orediggers struggled in their first loss of the season, 78-76 to Wayland Baptist, the Skyhawks dismantled the same Pioneers team 83-64.
Rasmus Bach was sharp from the opening tip and poured in 23 points to lead the high-flying Skyhawks offense. Senior guard Joshua Blaylock made five 3-pointers on his way to a 21-point effort and starting center Brandon Wilson owned the boards with a game-high 14 rebounds.
“This was a really good win, probably the most complete game we’ve played to date,” Fort Lewis head coach Bob Pietrack said in a phone interview with The Durango Herald. “We were kind of like wounded dogs at the beginning and came out like our backs were against the wall right away.”
Fort Lewis was hot from the perimeter early on as Blaylock started 3-for-3 from long range to pace FLC’s 9-0 run in the game’s opening minutes. Bach continued the torrid pace and had 16 points at the intermission as the Skyhawks held a 45-30 lead.
“Rasmus is an all-league player and he’s capable of that every night,” Pietrack said.
Instead of resting on the lead, the Skyhawks flexed their muscles in the second half while the rival Orediggers watched from the stands.
The lead swelled to 28 points as the offense picked apart the opponents while the defense smothered the Pioneers (7-2) into shooting 36 percent for the game. When the final buzzer sounded on the 19-point win, it marked the team’s fifth consecutive win, and the Skyhawks look to be in midseason form heading opening weekend of the gauntlet known as the RMAC men’s basketball schedule.
“We were better this week than we were last week, and that’s all we can hope for,” Pietrack said. “We’re about to start defending our league title. I’m hoping that next week we’ll even better than this week, and so on.”
Fort Lewis will host CSU-Pueblo at 7:30 p.m. Friday at Whalen Gymnasium in the league opener and square off with New Mexico Highlands at the same time Saturday.
jfries@durangoherald.com
