Saturday was a day of surprises for Fort Lewis College redshirt freshman Riley Farris.
Farris suffered what looked like a season-ending knee injury earlier this season, and has slowly returned to the impressive form he showed in the first few games. After learning that his parents had made the surprise trip from Hutto, Texas, to watch him play Saturday afternoon, Farris was inspired to pour in a career-high 24 points in just 16 minutes of action to lead No. 16 Fort Lewis (18-3, 13-2 RMAC) to a 93-85 win at Colorado Christian.
FLC’s ultra-reliable junior Rasmus Bach finished with 19 points and Daniel Hernandez was a spark plug again off the bench with 15 points. The backcourt duo of Joshua Blaylock and Will Morse each scored 10 points.
“This was the healthiest we’ve been all season and it showed,” Fort Lewis head coach Bob Pietrack said in a phone interview with The Durango Herald. “Farris was phenomenal and Bach was a monster in that second half. They gave us some trouble in the first half with the defense they were playing, but we finally figured it out in that second half.”
The trouble Pietrack’s men were facing was caused by an extended 2-3 zone defense that forced the guards well beyond the 3-point arc. The Skyhawks trailed for much of the opening 20 minutes, but when Farris started having success, it opened the flood gates all over the floor.
The Skyhawks used a mid-second-half 14-5 run to grab the lead. The Cougars (11-10, 8-7 RMAC) kept it close, however, and cut the deficit to five points with two minutes left. Farris had one more surprise left in the bag as the big man delivered a 3-point dagger that sealed the win and capped off a performance his parents were certainly proud of. He finished the day a sparkling 9-for-11 from the field.
Colorado Christian’s Brett Brady led all scorers with 30 points in a losing effort.
“This is such a meat-grinder of a league and we’re lucky to have a number of guys who can step up and get the job done on any given night,” Pietrack said. “We’re going to need everyone, too, especially next weekend against the two teams we have to face.”
The Skyhawks will head to Las Vegas, New Mexico, for a 7 p.m. Friday game against New Mexico Highlands before a very tough test against CSU-Pueblo on Saturday. Fort Lewis needed a massive second-half comeback to beat the ThunderWolves in the first meeting of the season 105-97 in overtime.
Currently, Fort Lewis is tied at the top of the RMAC standings with No. 22 Colorado School of Mines with seven games remaining. The two powerhouse programs are on a collision course and will go toe-to-toe Feb. 17 at Fort Lewis College’s Whalen Gymnasium.
jfries@durangoherald.com
