The Fort Lewis College men’s and women’s basketball teams both won on Thursday night at South Dakota Mines, with the stakes differing for each team.
Both teams were down in the second half, but the Skyhawks men had higher stakes with their undefeated conference record and first-place standing in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference.
The women aren’t in a conference title fight at the moment, but every win helps as the Skyhawks are trying to make the RMAC tournament for the first time since the 2017-2018 season. FLC used a strong second half to win 71-58.
Despite being down eight with less than 13 minutes left, the FLC men finished strong behind redshirt sophomore guard Stewart Erhart’s stellar second half to win 86-81.
“Staying the course,” FLC men’s basketball head coach Jordan Mast said. “We got in foul trouble early … we just didn’t get a good flow. Then in the second half, we were actually playing really hard, but we turned ball over a lot … But, the guys just stayed the course, kept getting good shots, and they started going in.”
FLC improved to 9-5 overall and 7-0 in the RMAC after it shot 53% from the field, 38% from 3-point range and 69% from the free-throw line.
After picking up two fouls in the first half and going to the bench, Erhart exploded in the second half, scoring all 24 of his points to help lead FLC’s comeback efforts. Erhart finished 6-10 from the field, 2-2 from 3-point range and 10-10 from the free-throw line, along with six rebounds and six assists. Fellow redshirt sophomore guard Jaxon Smith added 13 points on 5-12 shooting from the field and 3-9 from 3-point range.
South Dakota Mines dropped to 7-8 overall and 4-3 in the RMAC after it shot 39% from the field, 34% from 3-point range and 90% from the free-throw line. Gavin Soukop led the Hardrockers with 20 points on 6-17 shooting from the field, 5-10 from 3-point range and 3-3 from the free-throw line.
Hardrockers guard Jason Lee is third in the RMAC in scoring and finished with 19 points, six assists and five rebounds against FLC. Mast was happy with how FLC defended him and said Lee is a tough cover because of how good of a passer he is.
FLC jumped out to a 16-8 lead with 13 minutes in the first half after forcing five early turnovers. The Hardrockers bounced back to take a 38-30 lead with less than two minutes to go in the first half with the Skyhawks’ best players in foul trouble. South Dakota Mines led 38-34 at the half.
The Skyhawks’ first-half deficit would have been worse if it weren’t for FLC senior forward Keither Florence. He scored seven consecutive points in the middle of the first half for the Skyhawks and had nine first-half points. Florence finished with 12 points and seven rebounds in only 19 minutes off the bench.
“He was fantastic,” Mast said about Florence. “Totally locked and dialed in. We challenged him because last year he did not have a great game here, and he wanted to prove that he was ready to go and a better player than what he showed last year in this building.”
After his team fell behind by eight, Mast told his team that the Hardrockers were playing too comfortably and FLC wasn’t getting great stops. The Skyhawks were getting good shots, but they weren’t making them.
FLC took its first lead of the second half with two free throws by Erhart to make it 51-50 with 10:03 left. The Skyhawks were down 73-72 with 3:33 left, but Smith went on an 8-0 run with two 3-pointers to give FLC a lead it wouldn’t give up again.
The Skyhawks will play at top-25-ranked Black Hills State on Saturday at 3 p.m. The Yellow Jackets are one game behind the Skyhawks and are 13-2 overall.
“They’re very well coached,” Mast said. “Coach Thompson does a great job. They all know their roles. They get to their spots, and they're very disciplined. We have just as much talent; who's going to be more disciplined in a game like that is going to come out on top.”
On the women’s side, FLC improved to 11-4 overall and 4-3 in the RMAC after it shot 44% from the field, 14% from 3-point range and 55% from the free-throw line.
“The key was to match their tempo and be physical,” FLC women’s basketball head coach Lauren Zuniga said. “Force them into turnovers and win the rebounding battle.”
FLC was led by junior Makaya Porter’s 16 points on 7-14 shooting from the field, 0-4 from 3-point range and 2-4 from the free-throw line. Freshman forward Alemanualii Fonoti added 12 points off the bench for the Skyhawks.
Zuniga said the key for Porter was to be herself: long, athletic and disruptive on offense and defense.
South Dakota Mines dropped to 6-9 overall and 4-3 in the RMAC after it shot 36% from the field, 18% from 3-point range and 74% from the free-throw line in the loss. Savea Mansfield led the Hardrockers with 22 points on 8-17 shooting from the field, 0-2 from 3-point range and 6-7 from the free-throw line. Morning Grace Spotted Bear added 10 points and 12 rebounds.
It was a nice bounce-back effort for the Skyhawks against Spotted Bear. Last season, she went off against FLC for 32 points and 13 rebounds.
“She’s their second leading scorer and a great player,” Zuniga said. “We knew that we needed to limit her touches in order to win the game. The team understood the assignment and prepared hard in order to win.”
It was a low-scoring first half, with the Skyhawks leading 13-10 after the first quarter and 24-23 at the half. Zuniga attributed the slow start to her team taking the time to find a rhythm.
The Skyhawks scored 23 points in the third quarter to take a 47-41 lead into the fourth and pulled away in the final quarter by outscoring the Hardrockers, 24-17.
It was an impressive half and game for the Skyhawks with their 3-point struggles. FLC dominated inside with a 56 2-point field goal percentage and outrebounded South Dakota Mines, 40-32. Zuniga didn’t have an explanation for her team’s poor outside shooting, but she was happy with how they got downhill.
“At halftime we just talked about playing our brand of basketball,” Zuniga said. “We wanted to turn up the pace, and turn them over. We score more when our defense is aggressive, so we talked about out-rebounding them and turning them over to generate points.”
The FLC women play at Black Hills State on Saturday at 1 p.m.
bkelly@durangoherald.com
