Fort Lewis College couldn’t establish anything it wanted to Saturday night in Gunnison.
With the home crowd fueling Western Colorado University on senior day, the home Mountaineers rolled to a 82-68 win against the FLC men’s basketball team. Brady Subart, a senior, couldn’t be stopped, as he had 23 points and five assists to lead the game.
“It was their night. They played well and shot the ball well,” FLC head coach Bob Pietrack said. “We were tired, and they were really good. They made a lot of shots, and we did not shoot the ball very well. Their senior had a great game.”
Fort Lewis hung around the game early with 3-point shooting, but 12 first-half turnovers helped the Mountaineers establish a 42-30 lead late in the first half.
The Skyhawks (12-15, 7-14 RMAC) couldn’t get the ball inside to their big men without turnovers and had to settle for outside shots. FLC made 9-of-25 from 3-point range compared to 12-of-27 for Western Colorado, which shot 50 percent from the floor in the game to FLC’s 39.6 percent after both teams had shot 47 percent in the first half.
Monroe Porter added 10 points, 10 rebounds and four assists for the Mountaineers (6-21, 3-18 RMAC).
FLC was drained after using all of its energy to beat rival Colorado Mesa University a night earlier in Grand Junction. Pietrack primarily has used a seven-man rotation on Friday night games and hasn’t had much depth to work with on Saturdays to alleviate the tired legs. FLC is 3-7 on the back-end of the RMAC weekend doubleheaders this season.
“It was the back end on the road, and we have not been a very good back-end team this year,” Pietrack said. “The 12 first-half turnovers made it too much of a mountain to climb for us.”
Will Wittman led FLC with 14 points. Marquel Beasley had nine points and 10 rebounds, while Otas Iyekekpolor had nine points and three rebounds after his big night at Colorado Mesa. He also picked up an early technical foul in the first half.
A.J. Sparks had 13 points, three rebounds, three assists and two steals from the point guard position for FLC, while Kireed Johnson also had 13 points.
Jackson Ehrlin added 16 points, seven rebounds for the Mountaineers.
The Skyhawks will finish the season at 7:30 p.m. Friday at home against Adams State to end an adversity-filled campaign.
“We are looking forward to coming back home to play another regional rival in Adams State and look forward to competing and honoring our three seniors,” Pietrack said.
jlivingston@durangoherald.com
