The Fort Lewis College Men's Basketball Team split their final two games of the Disney Tip-Off West Coast Classic at the Anaheim Convention Center, as they defeated the University of Alaska Anchorage on Saturday evening, and fell to Southwest Minnesota State University in the tournament championship game on Sunday morning.
Alaska-Anchorage is a member of the Great Northwest Athletic Conference. The Seawolves went 29-6 during the 2007-2008 season, and advanced to the Final Four of the NCAA Division II National Tournament, before losing to eventual runner-up Augusta State of Georgia.
Both teams had difficulty scoring in the first-half. The Skyhawks shot an uncharacteristic 36 percent from the field and 33 percent from three-point range, while the Seawolves shot 32 percent from the field and only 25 percent from behind the arc.
Senior center Kirk Archibeque (Cortez, CO/University of Northern Colorado), led the Skyhawks offensively with 11 points in the half. Fort Lewis took a 28-22 lead into the break.
Fort Lewis broke out of their shooting slump in the second-half, improving to 67 percent from the field, and a sizzling 75 percent from three-point range. Senior Ryan Jameson (Durango, CO/Durango), had 15 points. He finished the game with an impressive stat line of 18 points, seven assists, and six rebounds. Archibeque had 17 points and five rebounds for the Skyhawks.
Fort Lewis increased their advantage to as much as 17 points in the second-half, but Alaska-Anchorage closed the gap to two with a 33-18 run over the final 12 minutes. Once again, Jameson was clutch down the stretch, draining four free throws in the final minute of the Skyhawk's 66-62 victory over the Seawolves.
Fort Lewis played in the championship game of the Disney Tip-Off West Coast Classic on Sunday, against the Mustangs of Southwest Minnesota State University.
SMSU is a member of the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference. They overall record in 2007-2008 was 17-12.
The championship game was a low-scoring defensive struggle for most of the first-half. Fort Lewis shot 42 percent from the field, compared to 39 percent for the Mustangs, and made two of their three attempts from behind the arc, while SMSU connected on 3 of 11 attempts. Despite shooting slightly better from the field than SMSU, FLC was down 45-39 at halftime. The disparity came at the free-throw line. SMSU was 10-12 in the half, while Fort Lewis was only 10-17 from the line.
Archibeque led the way for Fort Lewis in the first-half with nine points and five rebounds.
The Mustangs pulled away in the second-half, despite only shooting 36 percent from the field. Their defense and offensive rebounding was the difference. The Skyhawks attempted only 25 second-half shots, compared to 42 for SMSU. The Mustangs also held a 27 to 13 advantage in offensive rebounds for the game. Fort Lewis got within nine points at the midpoint of the second-half, but was not able to cut any further into the lead, and lost 79 to 65.
Archibeque finished with 19 points and 8 rebounds. He ended the tournament with averages of 20 points and 10 rebounds.
Jordan Brooks, Ryan Yates, and Kyle Behrens scored 12, 11, and 10 points respectively, in the championship game.
The Skyhawk's record stands at 2-1 on the season. They will not play again until November 26th, when they take on Grand Canyon University at the Thanksgiving Classic in Phoenix, Arizona. Their First home game will be December 5th at 8:00, against St. Edwards University.
