Written By: Ryan Owens
February 21, 2010. Durango, CO. - The night unfolded like a nice, tidy three-act play for Fort Lewis College and the Skyhawk faithful.
Act 1 saw a new batch of inductees to the Skyhawks' Athletic Hall of Fame, and Act 2 ended with the FLC women cutting down the nets after claiming a third consecutive Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference title.
All FLC needed for a perfect ending was a men's upset over No. 15 Mesa State.
Enter DeAndre Lansdowne.
The Skyhawks' leading scorer hit a 5-foot runner with 3.6 seconds left, igniting a raucous crowd and giving FLC a 79-78 victory over the Mavericks.
With time winding down and Fort Lewis College (18-7 overall, 12-5 RMAC) trailing 78-77, Lansdowne took the ball at the top of the key, saw an opening, and cut hard to the basket, flipping the ball in with his right hand while drawing contact from a Mesa State defender.
While coach Bob Hofman said he would like to take credit for drawing up the play, Lansdowne went off-script for the game winner.
“Well, the truth is, that was all DeAndre," Hofman said.
“I was thinking about possessions. I wasn't crazy about him running (the clock) down until it went in."
After a string of timeouts, the Mavericks (20-4, 14-3) had the ball at half court with 0.9 seconds left. The inbounds attempt to the post was deflected away, leaving 0.6 seconds for Mesa State, and while an animated Hofman was hoping for more time to have run off, he later admitted the scorekeepers got the clock situation correct.
The Skyhawks' defense stiffened on the next inbounds play, forcing a 30-foot heave by Brian Kenshalo that fell well short, and the celebration was on, punctuated by Lansdowne blowing kisses to an elated crowd.
The finish was a bit closer than FLC may have hoped. The Skyhawks led by 13 with 11 minutes remaining, only to see MSC storm back over the next six minutes to take the lead 67-65 with 5:40 remaining.
But FLC weathered the storm, trading the lead several times and setting up a memorable finish.
Although Lansdowne shone brightest at the end, FLC also got strong performances by David Kanyinda, who led all scorers with 24, and Daniel Steffensen, who scored 17 points.
Lance Fite led MSC with 17.
Hofman equally was pleased with a couple of scorers who didn't show up big on the stat sheet.
“I thought we got great minutes from Torrey Udall and great minutes from Taylor Faust and Connor Drumm," he said.
Fort Lewis now sits alone in second place in the RMAC West Division and have a bit of momentum going as they wrap up the regular season against Adams State and Western New Mexico.
Time will tell how important Saturday's win was mentally for the Skyhawks.
“It's the old coach's cliché, 'Let's put it all on the table and let the chips fall where they may,'" Hofman said.
Box Score
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