Alex Herrera never has been one to focus on himself or his own success. It’s not in the All-American’s DNA.
So when he scored 25 points, grabbed 12 rebounds and blocked three shots in a 70-52 win against Regis on senior night at Whalen Gymnasium, the Fort Lewis College senior center from Ignacio deflected all the praise to his teammates and coaches for helping him cap off a brilliant career on his home floor.
“This school just means everything to me. It’s a family, it’s a brotherhood with these guys,” Herrera said. “Coach (Bob) Hofman, coach (Bob) Pietrack and Danny (Steffensen), I love them to death. I really appreciate everything that has happened here within the last five years.”
Herrera, the school’s career leader in blocked shots and free-throw attempts, capped off a remarkable weekend in the Skyhawks’ regular-season home finale with his performance Saturday. It came one night after he had 20 points and 12 crucial rebounds in a 68-64 upset win against No. 9 Metro State, the second time in Herrera’s career FLC had beaten a top-10 Metro State squad at Whalen.
Herrera checked out of the game with 38.7 seconds to play with his team up 69-52. He bent down on both knees, kissed the Skyhawks logo at center court and acknowledged the fans on his way off the floor.
“I wanted to end on a win here,” Herrera said. “Such a memorable weekend, but, I mean, we want to make one last run to make it that much more memorable and get that last home game here.”
Herrera got a glimpse of the torch he is passing down to the rest of the team with big efforts from his teammates helping FLC (19-7, 14-6 RMAC) get over the hump in both games. Lucas Archuleta, Kevin Flohr and Herrera are the only three players FLC will graduate from this year’s team.
But Herrera isn’t letting anyone think about the future. With two games to go in the regular season, FLC is right back in the mix for a top-four seed going into the RMAC Shootout, which would mean one last home game for the Skyhawks. He wants one more home game for Archuleta, who was unable to play over the weekend because of illness.
“We’re going to battle next weekend and, hopefully, get that home game back. We’ll get Lucas’ senior night. That’s what I’m looking forward to,” he said.
It was a big weekend for FLC, which entered No. 9 in the NCAA Division II South Central Region poll. The top-eight teams in that poll after conference tournaments are played receive an invite to the regional tournament. After beating Metro State, the No. 2 team in that poll, FLC has a great chance to creep into the regional tournament, too.
FLC once again played a well-rounded game Saturday, with junior guard Jared Smith contributing three crucial 3-pointers that helped stop runs by Regis (5-19, 3-17 RMAC). He finished with nine points. Smith struggled shooting earlier in the season but made the go-ahead 3-pointer late against Metro State on Friday. He carried that momentum into Saturday.
“Jared is such an intense competitor, and he wants to win so badly for his teammates that sometimes he thinks a missed shot is a mistake,” Hofman said. “It’s not a mistake. He very seldom takes even close to a bad shot. I think he’s really had a good week of practice shooting, and that helped his confidence quite a bit.
“If Jared plays well, so do we.”
Cade Kloster added 12 points for FLC. Flohr scored six on two made 3s, as he got a rare start on senior night. He also said he was playing with Archuleta on his mind.
“It felt great,” Flohr said of making two 3s, “but it felt better to get out on the floor with all my teammates. It was tough not to have Luke out there, but I’m sure he knows we were all playing for him.”
Brett Hartsthorne led Regis with 17 points on 7-of-15 shooting. FLC held the Rangers to 3-of-15 shooting from 3.
FLC also dominated the game from the free-throw line, making 23-of-27 and holding Regis to only seven attempts from the foul line all game.
The Skyhawks will close out the regular season with games next Friday and Saturday at Western State and Colorado Mesa, respectively. FLC will look for revenge against the rival Mavericks on Saturday, as Colorado Mesa beat FLC 94-88 in Durango the weekend before Christmas.
Hofman said the team can’t let Western State be a trap game. He knows how hard it is to play there, considering he coached there for five seasons.
Herrera is dedicated to staying focused on the Mountaineers, but he admitted he is excited to play the Mavericks again.
“I’m really looking forward to that game, but we gotta focus on Friday first. We know both these games are huge,” Herrera said. “Coming down to Saturday night’s game, it’s a very good matchup. I want it really bad just for a little bit of redemption for what happened here at home.”
jlivingston@durangoherald.com
