Box score

GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. — You can't complain much about a 3-0 start. The Fort Lewis College men's basketball team has accomplished just that for the third time in four years after rallying in the second half to salvage an 82-70 win over Northern New Mexico this afternoon in the Clarion Inn Thanksgiving Classic, hosted by Colorado Mesa University in Brownson Arena.
 
“We ended up winning a pretty ugly game,” said 17th year FLC head coach Bob Hofman. “They were ahead at the half.”
 
Indeed, the Eagles (3-10 overall) — the very same Eagles that FLC held without a field goal in the first 10 minute of the game nine days ago in Whalen Gymnasium — led 42-41 at halftime thanks to a blistering 56 percent shooting (14 of 25) from the field in the first frame. Northern New Mexico also scorched the nets from behind the arc in the opening 20 minutes, making 54.5 percent (6 of 11) of their bombs.
 
“To Northern New Mexico's credit, they played really hard. Coach (Ryan) Cordova got them ready and they really played hard," he said of NNMC's skipper, a former FLC assistant women's and men's basketball coach under Keith Durham in the late 1990s.
 
The game remained close for the first seven minutes of the second stanza before Lucas Archuleta buried a three to put FLC on top for good at 55-52 with 12:54 remaining and ignite a 7-0 Skyhawk run.
 
Nick Tomsick led the Skyhawks with 19 points, but was just 1-of-5 from long range.
 
Alex Herrera continued to show his improvement on the offensive end, scoring 15 points on 5-of-5 shooting from the field and a 5-of-7 effort from the charity stripe to go along with seven rebounds (four offensive).
 
“I was really pleased that Alex Herrera really came along offensively and played well,” said Hofman.
 
“Matt Mazarei continued to take care of the basketball with four assists and no turnovers,” he added.

Torrey Udall added 11 points on a 5-of-7 shooting night.
 
Aside from the one-two inside punch of Herrera and Udall that went a combined 10-of-12 from the field, the rest of the Skyhawks struggled to find their stroke. Fort Lewis shot just 38.8 percent (26 of 67) from the field and a dismal 15.4 percent from behind the arc (4 of 26).
 
“We struggled from the three-point line,” said Hofman.
 
Fort Lewis won the rebounding battle 44-38 and committed just eight turnovers while forcing 15 by the Eagles.
 
Now the Skyhawks put their perfect 3-0 record on the line for the upcoming 22-game Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference schedule, which begins at 7:30 p.m. Friday at UC-Colorado Springs (0-3 overall heading into tonight's game at San Francisco State). The two-game road swing also includes a 7:30 p.m. stop the following night at Colorado State-Pueblo (1-4 prior to tonight's game at West Texas A&M).