The Fort Lewis College men’s basketball team is headed to the championship game of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Tournament.
The Skyhawks took down the defending RMAC champs, Black Hills State University, for a third time this season on Friday in the RMAC semifinals in Grand Junction, 83-78.
Akuel Kot scored 32 points for FLC and Junior Garbrah added 20 during a huge second-half effort that kept the Skyhawks close to the Yellow Jackets.
FLC took an early 17-10 lead, but Black Hills then took over and built a 12-point lead on the back of Joel Scott, 40-28. Brenden Boatwright responded with five points on two shots for Fort Lewis. Then Kot scored nine in short time to cut Black Hill’s lead to 49-42 at the half.
Black Hills remained ahead until Obi Agbim hit a pair of free throws with 7:25 remaining that tied the game 67-67. With the game on the line, Kot got hot and scored Fort Lewis’ last 10 points, including a dagger of a trey that put the Skyhawks up 76-71 with 3:30 left.
Fort Lewis will play the Colorado School of Mines at 6 p.m. Saturday for the RMAC Tournament crown. Mines beat the tournament hosts, Colorado Mesa University, 64-53 in the other semifinal.
Peyton was upset city on Friday.
No. 26 Ignacio took down the Region VII hosts No. 7 Peyton Panthers 45-42.
No. 23 The Pinnacle then beat No. 10 seed The Vanguard School 53-45 to reach the Region VII finals against the Bobcats in the Class 3A tournament.
The No. 11 Ignacio girls took on No. 22 Woodland Park in the Platte Valley hosted Class 3A Region VI, but lost a close battle.
Woodland Park led 22-16 at halftime. Ignacio cut the lead to one heading into the fourth quarter, 30-29, but weren’t able to overtake the Panthers.
Platte Valley beat No. 27 Rocky Ford 60-16 and will face Woodland Park in the regional final Saturday.
No. 31 Montezuma-Cortez took on No. 2 Salida, but fell to the Spartans 75-43 in the first round of the Class 3A boys tournament.
The No. 24 Bayfield boys basketball team was also scheduled to play No. 9 Yuma at the Class 3A Region VIII championships at Lake County High School in Leadville Friday. This story will be updated when a final score is posted.
Update: Yuma was able to defeat the Wolverines, 74-51.
