Box score

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — Ask any coach in the country, and he'll take a 4-0 start … especially when his team knows how to pull out a road win in the last few minutes.
 
For the second time in a week, Fort Lewis (4-0 overall, 1-0 in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference) got hot down the stretch, this time taking the lead with 1:31 remaining before holding off a game University of Colorado-Colorado Springs squad (0-5, 0-1) 72-69 tonight at the Gallogly Events Center.
 
“Obviously, it's very tough to win road games in our league, so we're happy to get the win,” said FLC associate head coach Bob Pietrack.
 
Alex Herrera tipped in Wes McKenzie's missed jumper with 1:31 remaining to put FLC on top 65-64. Herrera finished the game with a career-high 20 points and grabbed a team-high eight rebounds. He went 8-of-10 from the field and blocked four Mountain Lion shots.
 
“Alex played wonderfully,” Pietrack said of the 6-foot-10 sophomore from nearby Ignacio High School.
 
From that point on, clutch free throw shooting kept the Mountain Lions at bay.
 
“Nick Tomsick and Marcus Ayala hit some big free throws down the stretch,” said Pietrack.
 
After a UCCS miss and a Herrera rebound, Tomsick was fouled and sank both free throws with 38 seconds left to stretch the lead to 67-64.
 
The Mountain Lions answered with a Jake Darby jumper with 27 seconds remaining to trim the lead to a single point. But UCCS was whistled for a team technical on the ensuing inbounds pass and the Skyhawks made them pay dearly.
 
Tomsick made both free throws with 25 seconds left to put the lead back to three at 69-66. UCCS was forced to foul and Ayala sank both charity shots to push the lead to five at 71-66.
 
After an Alex Kohler three that cut the lead to two, Ayala went 1-of-2 on his next to foul shots to account for the final 72-69 margin.
 
Tomsick led the Skyhawks for the fourth game in a row with 21 points and went 3-of-4 from behind the arc. Ayala added 12 off the bench.
 
Derrick White led UCCS with 18 points but committed eight turnovers. Alex Welch came off the bench to notch a double-double with 16 points and 13 rebounds (six offensive) while shooting 8-of-11 from the field.
 
Fort Lewis improved to 31-9 all-time against UC-Colorado Springs.
 
The Skyhawks will try to match the 5-0 start that the 2010-11 FLC squad accomplished — the same team that advanced to the NCAA Division II Sweet Sixteen — when it faces Colorado State-Pueblo (1-6, 0-1) at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at Massari Arena.
 
The ThunderWolves lost 77-73 in overtime tonight on its home court to Adams State.
 
CSU-Pueblo rallied for a 77-73 win over Fort Lewis in the two teams' last meeting, at Massari Arena last February. The Skyhawks have won 17 of the last 20 games between the two schools, though.
 
“We'll take the win and we look forward to playing Pueblo tomorrow night,” said Pietrack.