The Fort Lewis men’s basketball team got in the win column this past Saturday, beating Eastern New Mexico 82-62 behind a dominant second half. Meanwhile, the Fort Lewis women lost 69-60 against Western New Mexico this past Saturday.
“Eastern, they're a team that went 13-2 at home last year with four starters back and as a staff, we were just so proud of our guys for kind of having to bow our backs a little bit because you lose that first game and you're staring at an 0-2 weekend and right off the bat and against regional opponents,” Skyhawks men’s coach Bob Pietrack said. “That's a very, very tough position to be in.”
After the win, the Fort Lewis men improved to 1-1 behind a fantastic shooting night from 3-point range, shooting 52% from deep, including 9 of 12 in the second half.
The Skyhawks shot 41% overall after a huge 49-point second half. Junior guard Tristan Hurdle was on fire from long range, shooting 5 of 6 from 3-point range as he finished with 15 points off the bench in only 16 minutes played.
Aside from Hurdle, junior forward Brayden Carter had another good game with 11 points and a team-high 15 rebounds, five of which were offensive boards.
Junior guard Obi Agbim led Fort Lewis with 18 points. Agbim also had six rebounds and four assists.
“We really don't have starters,” Pietrack said. “We're not really looking at it like that. We have 10 guys that we feel very confident in that are Division II caliber starting players at this point in their career. So we may mix and match starting lineups quite a bit this year. But our bench and the depth of our team is probably our strength. We got really good bench production both nights.”
Fort Lewis stymied Eastern New Mexico’s offense as it shot 39% from the field and 31% from deep. The Skyhawks out-rebounded Eastern New Mexico 45-29.
“Obi, he's kind of the engine to our team, so to speak,” Pietrack said. “He drives the bus in that regard. He's ultra-talented, he can score at three different levels and when he's going right, he is really going. So we got to keep finding ways to get him in the paint. Anytime he's in the paint, good things are happening for Fort Lewis. He affects the game so much more than people realize because his ability to pass, he’s a beautiful passer.”
The Fort Lewis women trailed Western New Mexico by just two points entering the fourth quarter. However, Fort Lewis struggled shooting the ball in the fourth, going 3 of 12 from the field.
“Credit to them, they hit they had some big shots and unfortunately for us, we just couldn't score,” Fort Lewis head coach Taylor Harris said about the fourth quarter. “It’s the way it goes sometimes.”
For the game, the Skyhawks shot 38% from the field and 22% from beyond the 3-point arc, as they fell to 0-2.
Eliza Joynes led Western New Mexico with 17 points off the bench on 7 of 13 shooting, as the Mustangs improved to 2-0. Western New Mexico shot 43% overall and 31% from beyond the arc.
Senior forward Kelsey Sorenson led Fort Lewis in scoring for the second straight game, finishing with 19 points on 7 of 15 shooting in just 21 minutes before she fouled out.
“She did a good job,” Harris said. “I think that her fouls came especially off of second chance opportunities where we didn’t get that initial rebound and that's what kind of hurt. She's a really talented player and she really had to carry a load as Lanae’s dealing with an ankle injury.”
Sophomore guard Lanae Billy got back on track, scoring 15 points on 7 of 11 shooting overall and 1 of 3 from behind the 3-point arc.
The Skyhawks struggled once again with turnovers, coughing up the ball 23 times.
Both the men’s and women’s teams return to Whalen Gymnasium on Friday. The women will play Northern New Mexico at 3 p.m., and the men will play Western New Mexico at 5 p.m.
bkelly@durangoherald.com
