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Fort Lewis College Athletics

Scoreboard

Brendan Boatwright
Max DeHerrera/Sports Fanatic Photography
82
Winner Fort Lewis M-1083
74
Eastern N.M. M-206
Winner
Fort Lewis M-1083
82
Final
74
Eastern N.M. M-206
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
Fort Lewis M-1083 35 47 82
Eastern N.M. M-206 35 39 74

Game Recap: Men's Basketball | | Brian Kortz

Biggs Goes for 20 Points, Farris Adds 19 to Lead Men’s Basketball Past Greyhounds

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – The game sure had a similar feeling to last year, only this time the Fort Lewis College men's basketball team made sure it wouldn't come down to a final shot. Trailing by two with two minutes to play, the Skyhawks closed the game on a 14-4 run to claim the 82-74 victory over Eastern New Mexico University Friday afternoon in the season opener for both teams in Albuquerque.

"Anytime you can get a win over a Lone Star Conference opponent is a great win. Eastern New Mexico is a very good basketball team and this is an excellent non-conference win for us," Head Coach Bob Pietrack said. "We look forward to playing for the tournament championship tomorrow (Saturday) against Western New Mexico."

Keven Biggs sure came up big in his first game with Fort Lewis, as the junior transfer from Pima CC drilled five big three-pointers to lead to his team-high 20 points. Farris also delivered a big 19 points on 7-10 shooting and pulled down a team-best five rebounds. He connected on a key three-pointer with a minute left to push the lead to four.

Marquel Beasley battled foul trouble, playing with four a majority of the second half and he still chipped in 15 points and four rebounds in just 16 minutes. Alex Semadeni gave the Skyhawks four players in double-figures with 13 points on 4-8 shooting, including a 3-4 mark from downtown. He dished out a team-high five assists.

FLC shot well from the field, but even better from beyond the arc making 12-22 (54.5) from three and 24-46 (52.2) overall from the field. Free throws were essential as well hitting 22-25 (88). On the flip side, the Skyhawk defense kept Eastern New Mexico to a 3-20 (15) effort from three and they struggled at the charity stripe making just 7-14 (50).

It was a wild finish between the teams over the last two minutes. After the Greyhounds split a pair at the foul line to go up two, Michael Ranson hit a big three at the 1:50 mark off an assist by Beasley to push FLC up by one.

The defense held and forced a three by Eastern New Mexico that was missed and collected by Farris. Farris then took a pass from Semadeni behind the line and swished a clutch three ball to move FLC to a 74-70 lead with just a minute to play.

FLC then came up large at the foul line, as after a Greyhound layup trimmed it back to two points, AJ Sparks hit two from the charity stripe to move the Skyhawks to a 76-72 lead with 31 seconds remaining. The Greyhounds went quick, but the ensuing jumper was off and on the loose ball, Beasley drew a foul. He promptly sunk two more to make it a 78-72 game with 22 seconds to play.

Sparks and Beasley then hit four foul shots combined down the stretch to give FLC the 82-74 victory.

It was tough sledding for both teams in the first half, with Biggs hitting a three-pointer just over five minutes in to give FLC a 10-6 lead. After Farris hit a layup, Biggs dialed long distance again with 11:34 to go before halftime to stretch the FLC lead out to seven at 15-8.

The Skyhawks kept the lead around seven when Eastern New Mexico went on a 9-0 run to take a 25-23 lead with 4:40 to go before the break. The teams exchanged leads over the remainder of the half before going into the break tied at 35.

The Greyhounds held a 41-37 lead a few minutes into the second half and had a three-point lead midway through the second stanza when another three by Biggs tied the game at 51. Biggs and Beasley then hit back-to-back three-pointers to jump the lead to six at 57-51 with 9:22 to play.

Eastern New Mexico would come back to lead by as many as three and then in front by two setting up the crazy final two minutes of the contest.

FLC dominated in bench points (46-21), while Eastern New Mexico held the edge in points off turnovers (22-10), second-chance (16-2), points in the paint (46-18) and fastbreak (18-9).

Chukuka Emili scored a game-high 21 points to lead Eastern New Mexico, he just missed a double-double with nine rebounds. Maurice Coleman added 12 and Zach Parker rounded out the three in double-figures with 10 points.

FLC will remain in Albuquerque to face Western New Mexico tomorrow (Saturday) with another 12:30 p.m. tip.
 
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