Written by: Dale Strode
January 30th, 2010. Durango, CO. - The Skyhawks cashed in fool's gold for a golden victory Friday night.
The Fort Lewis College men's basketball team, fueled by three crowd-rousing thunder dunks from DeAndre Lansdowne, turned back the pesky Thunderwolves from CSU-Pueblo 84-69 before a festive Snowdown crowd at Whalen Gymnasium.
“They are good. They are awfully good," FLC head coach Bob Hofman said after the Skyhawks repelled a number of CSU-Pueblo challenges late in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference game.
“That was fool's gold when we had that nine-point lead at halftime," Hofman said. “But we made enough big plays down the stretch - the rest was just hang on."
Fort Lewis worked to a 43-34 lead at the half courtesy of a shiny 61 percent shooting from the field and a big rebounding edge (18-9).
Oh, and Landsdowne scored 17 points and grabbed five rebounds in the first half.
The Thunderwolves, as Hofman had predicted, attacked in the second half with a lineup of long-range junior college jump shooters.
But each time CSU-Pueblo closed down the Fort Lewis lead, the Skyhawks answered.
Kyle Behrens hit a reverse layup and two inside bank shots early in the half.
Matt Morris canned four free throws and an inside basket off an assist from Daniel Steffensen.
And Lansdowne had a one-hand jam on a fast break midway through the half before capping the FLC victory with another full-speed fast break dunk with three minutes to play after CSU-Pueblo had pulled to within five points.
“When DeAndre … gets a dunk, it fires us up for a good six to eight points," said Morris, the former Durango High School standout who scored 14 points Friday night.
“My team is looking to rebound. Then I can leak out … for some (dunks)," said Lansdowne, who finished with a game-high 23 points.
David Kanyinda scored 14 points for Fort Lewis. Steffensen finished with 12. Behrens and Matt Billups had nine points each as the Skyhawks had six players in double figures or close.
“That's always a good sign," Morris said of the team balance. “That means we're sharing the ball. And that makes it harder to guard us."
Steffensen led the Skyhawks with a game-high eight rebounds, part of a huge 35-19 rebounding edge for Fort Lewis.
“I didn't feel like I did my job very well in the first half and early in the second half," Morris said. “So I wanted to go out and grab rebounds at the end."
The Thunderwolves, who fell to 10-7 overall and 5-5 in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference, were led by Chris Busch's 14 points.
Teammates Marc Williams and Donell Wells scored 12 each. Roman Van Allen added 11.
Van Allen, Wells and Williams all are junior college transfers. Busch is a transfer from Eastern Washington.
Fort Lewis improved to 9-1 in conference, 15-3 overall.
The Skyhawks will be back in Whalen Gymnasium when they host New Mexico Highlands at 7:30 p.m. today in a special Gold Rush promotional game.
The first 200 students to arrive at tonight's FLC basketball doubleheader will receive a free FLC Gold Rush T-shirt.
Box Score
dstrode@durangoherald.com
