Red-hot 3-point shooting usually results in a win.
That was the case Saturday night in Golden for the UC-San Diego Tritons, who handed the Fort Lewis College men’s basketball team its first loss of the season. The Tritons (2-1) hit 16-of-35 shots from 3, resulting in an 83-71 victory.
“We have to give UC-San Diego a ton of credit. They made a ton of long shots, too many to overcome,” FLC associate head coach Bob Pietrack said.
Drew Dyer did a lot of the damage for the Triton, as he scored a game-high 22 points thanks to 5-of-7 shooting from 3.
Five UC-San Diego players finished in double figures. Adam Klie had 14 points and a game-high six assists.
FLC (5-1) turned the ball over 17 times, leading to 26 UC-San Diego points.
“We didn’t take care of the ball enough to be successful,” Pietrack said.
Redshirt-freshman guard Rasmus Bach led FLC in scoring with 14 points on a perfect 5-for-5 night shooting.
FLC star senior center Alex Herrera recorded a double-double with 11 points and 11 rebounds, good for his sixth consecutive double-double to open the season. Still, it was an off-night for the usually dominant big man from Ignacio.
“They were double and tripling Alex,” Pietrack said.
FLC took an early lead at 8-6 before a 16-3 run for the Tritons made it 22-11. FLC cut the deficit to 27-24, but UC-San Diego closed the half on another run to go up 37-27 at halftime.
The Skyhawks claimed a 51-48 lead after jumpers by Bach and Lucas Archuleta, but more great shooting helped the Tritons reclaim the lead at 54-53 with 10 minutes to go, and they never would relinquish the lead again.
FLC shot 52.3 percent from the field and hit 8-of-19 3s. The Skyhawks held the final advantage in rebounding, 28-26.
UC-San Diego finished 50.8 percent shooting from the field.
FLC will begin Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference games at 7:30 p.m. Friday at UC-Colorado Springs. That game will be followed by a 7:30 p.m. Saturday game at CSU-Pueblo.
“We will regroup and get ready for RMAC play,” Pietrack said.
jlivingston@durangoherald.com
