Box score
 
DURANGO, Colo. — The local costume shops might as well buy a lot of Alex Herrera jerseys and masks because all the kids are going to want to dress like “The Chief” next Halloween.
 
Herrera took a pass from Marcus Ayala and beat the buzzer with a two-handed dunk tonight to lead No. 20 Fort Lewis (14-2 overall, 11-2 in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference) to a 71-69 win over Colorado Mines (10-7, 7-6) tonight in Whalen Gymnasium.
 
The 6-foot-10 sophomore center from nearby Ignacio High School finished with 21 points, nine rebounds and six blocked shots.
 
“We beat an extremely well-coached team in a very hard fought game,” said 17th-year FLC head coach Bob Hofman. “We're really happy to come out with a victory.
 
“Once again, Alex was sensational,” he added.
 
The Skyhawk skipper said Herrera's dunk was the third option at the end of the game. Ayala took the inbounds pass underneath the Orediggers' basket with 6.2 seconds left and dribbled the length of the court down the right sideline.
 
Option one was to find Nick Tomsick open on the right wing for a three-point shot. Tomsick had already burned Dixie State, Colorado State-Pueblo and Black Hills State with buzzer-beating three-pointers earlier this season.
 
Option two was for Ayala to continue driving and look for his own shot.
 
Option three was to find Herrera on the left side of the basket. And Ayala's third assist of the game succeeded in doing just that.
 
But the heroics wouldn't have been necessary if it weren't for a furious Oredigger rally in the final 46 seconds. Trailing by six points at 68-62, Mines got a fastbreak layup from Ruben Jackson and a runner from Brian Muller to trim the lead to a single basket with 26 seconds remaining.
 
Mines was forced to foul the Skyhawks twice on FLC's ensuing possession, but FLC went ice cold from the line. First, Matt Mazarei missed two shots. After Mike Matthews fought for an offensive rebound on Mazarei's second miss, he was fouled and hit one of two foul shots.
 
The Orediggers had 21 seconds left to run a final play and opted for a three-pointer by Muller from the left flank. Muller, who finished with 21 points and four assists, found nothing but net with 6.4 seconds remaining to tie the game.
 
Muller was one of four Mines players to hit double digits. Luke Meisch added 18 points and nine rebounds. Cesar Mapeli came off the bench to score 11. Trevor Wages had 10 points and seven rebounds while playing with four fouls for much of the second half.
 
Tomsick was the only other Skyhawk to score in double figures with 20 points. His 9-of-10 foul shooting and 3-of-7 night from behind the arc helped the Skyhawks come back from a 39-34 halftime deficit. He also added four assists.
 
Ayala had nine points and seven rebounds for FLC. Mazarei, who leads the nation in assist-to-turnover ratio, hit two key three-pointers during the game to finish with six points.
 
Mines outrebounded Fort Lewis 38-32 and made half of its long-range bombs (eight of 16, including a 5-of-9 effort by Muller). The Orediggers shot a solid 44.3 percent from the field (27 of 61).
 
Fort Lewis made 46 percent of its shots (223 of 50) and made 10 more free throws than CSM (17 of 25, 68 percent). Like Mines, the Skyhawks also knocked down eight treys.
 
With the victory, FLC moved into a second place tie in the RMAC standings with No. 18 Adams State (13-3, 11-2), which was stunned by Colorado Christian 78-76 tonight in Alamosa.
 
The Skyhawks and Grizzlies meet for the second time this year at 8 p.m. next Saturday night in Plachy Hall. Adams State rallied from 18 down to beat FLC 82-76 on Dec. 8 in Whalen Gymnasium.