Box score
Watch the FLC post-game press conference
RMAC Shootout men's bracket
 
DURANGO, Colo. — This one was crazy, even by the strange and ultra-competitive Fort Lewis vs. Colorado Mines men's basketball standards.
 
The two rivals that have emerged as Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference powerhouses in the past decade played one for the ages Tuesday night in Whalen Gymnasium, with No. 22 Fort Lewis (20-8 overall) — seeded third in the RMAC Shootout — emerging with an 84-70 overtime win over the sixth-seeded Orediggers (15-12).
 
“They're a championship program,” 17th-year FLC head coach Bob Hofman said of Mines, which won back-to-back RMAC regular season titles in 2010-11 and 2011-12. “They came in here knowing they had nothing to lose. We held together and stuck together in the overtime, so I'm very pleased.”
 
That this one even was close at the end of regulation was a credit to Mines' championship pedigree. When Nick Tomsick hit a three-pointer with 3:44 left, he staked the Skyhawks to a 65-54 lead. But the Orediggers went on an 11-0 run down the stretch, mixing a fierce press with hustle and clutch shooting.
 
First, Trevor Wages scrapped for an offensive rebound and putback to pull CSM to within single digits with 3:23 left. Then he stole the ball from Mike Matthews and kept Mines' next possession alive with another offensive carom that led to a Garret Loew three-pointer that brought CSM to within six at 65-59 with 2:03 left.
 
After a Mines timeout, Loew picked Marcus Ayala's pocket under the basket and scored a layup to pull within four. A trap at midcourt forced an over-and-back call against FLC and Luke Meisch hit two free throws with 1:26 left to make it a two-point game. Brian Muller completed the comeback by sinking two free throws with 11 seconds left to level the score at 65-65 — the first tie since it was 2-2.
 
A Ruben Jackson three-pointer early in overtime gave the Orediggers their first lead of the game at 68-67. It proved to be their only lead, though, as FLC went on a 13-0 run over the next three minutes to seize control at 80-68.
 
The key? Defense. Mines' two first-team All-RMAC selections — Meisch and Wages — worked in tandem to frustrate the Skyhawks throughout regulation. Meisch scored a game-high 29 points, many of were set up by high screens by Wages. But he went scoreless in overtime.
 
“We did a better job of getting through the high pick-and-roll and made the shots a little bit tougher,” said Hofman. “Torrey Udall did a much better job of adjusting in overtime. They were trying to post us up. We wanted to deny Wages the ball in the high post so they couldn't just dump the ball into Meisch.”
 
The end result was Fort Lewis outscoring the Orediggers 19-5 in the extra frame.
 
Tomsick, who was named to the All-RMAC second team earlier in the day, simply caught fire in overtime. He scored nine of his career-high 28 points after regulation and finished the game with five three-pointers and a 9-of-16 night from the field.
 
“The biggest part was just motivation to win for our seniors,” Tomsick said. “We didn't want our seniors to go out like that. It's been such a good year and we've been through so much that we really wanted to go out with a bang and didn't want to lose in the first round.”
 
The counterpunch to Tomsick all year long has been Ayala, a reserve guard who also earned an All-RMAC second team nod on Tuesday. Ayala scored 15 points while coming up with three crucial steals.
 
“I feel like we feed off each other,” said Ayala. “One of us will step us for each other. Nick hit some big threes tonight that I wasn't able to hit.”
 
The only other Skyhawk in double figures was RMAC Defensive Player of the Year Alex Herrera, who scored 10 points and grabbed nine boards. He also had three blocked shots, becoming just the fifth player in FLC history with 100 or more career rejections (he now has 102).
 
Point guard Matt Mazarei, who ranks second in NCAA Division II in assist-to-turnover ratio, had four assists and just one turnover while scoring nine points and making all six of his foul shots.
 
Mines' Meisch went 11-of-16 from the field, 2-of-3 from behind the arc and a perfect 5-of-5 from the line to account for his 29 points. He also added seven rebounds and three assists.
 
Wages had 12 points, nine rebounds, four steals, two blocks and two assists. Muller added nine points and six helpers.
 
With the win, Fort Lewis advanced to the RMAC semifinals for the tenth time in 12 years. FLC won RMAC Shootout crowns in 2002, 2008 and 2011.
 
The Skyhawks will face second-seeded Adams State (20-7) at 5 p.m. Friday at the Auraria Event Center on the Metro State campus. The top-seeded Roadrunners (25-2), ranked No. 4 in yesterday's NABC Division II poll, host sixth-seeded Colorado Mesa (18-9) at 7 p.m. in the other semifinal. The winners will square off at 7 p.m. Saturday at Metro State.
 
Adams State swept the Skyhawks during the regular season, mounting a furious rally to beat FLC 82-76 in Durango on Dec. 8 while staving off a Skyhawk comeback on Feb. 2 in Alamosa to win 76-68.
 
“In the last six games, Adams has played better than anyone in the league,” said Hofman. “They're very deep, they're very physical, they're very well coached. They're a tough matchup for anybody.
 
“One thing we definitely need to do a better job than we have in the past against them is take care of the ball,” he said. “And Kaimyn Pruitt has been an absolute beast against us, so we have to figure out a way to keep him off the boards.”
 
Fort Lewis leads the all-time series with the Grizzlies 60-48. The Skyhawks are 2-0 all-time against ASU in the RMAC playoffs, including a 77-73 overtime win last Feb. 28 at Plachy Hall in Alamosa and an 80-56 win on February 25, 1986 in Whalen Gymnasium. The two schools also met three times in NAIA District VII playoffs in the 1980s and 1990s, with the then-ASC Indians beating the former FLC Raiders twice.