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Fort Lewis College Athletics

Scoreboard

AJ Sparks
Durango Family Photography
73
Winner Fort Lewis FLC 5-3 (1-2 RMAC)
61
CSU-Pueblo CUMB 2-7 (0-3 RMAC)
Winner
Fort Lewis FLC
5-3 (1-2 RMAC)
73
Final
61
CSU-Pueblo CUMB
2-7 (0-3 RMAC)
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
Fort Lewis FLC 30 43 73
CSU-Pueblo CUMB 34 27 61

Game Recap: Men's Basketball | | Brian Kortz

Sparks Provides “Spark” Off Bench to Send Men’s Basketball Past ThunderWolves

PUEBLO, Colo. – AJ Sparks certainly provided a spark for the Fort Lewis College Men's Basketball team as his 21 points off the bench helped lead the Skyhawks past CSU-Pueblo to take the 73-61 victory in Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference action Saturday night.

FLC (5-3, 1-2 RMAC) overcame a four-point halftime deficit to outscore CSU-Pueblo (2-7, 0-3 RMAC) 43-27 in the second half. Sparks was the big lift off the bench pouring in 21 points in just 26 minutes. He went 6-9 from the field, 2-2 from three and 7-8 from the foul line. He also grabbed four rebounds, dished out two assists and added a steal. Alex Semadeni and Will Wittmann also reached double-figures with Semadeni going for 12 points and Wittman adding 11 points. Semadeni also pulled down eight rebounds. Otas Iyekekpolor and Brenden Boatwright each sent back two blocks.

FLC went 25-59 (42) from the field, 8-22 (36) from three and 15-21 (71) at the foul line. The Skyhawks took advantage of points off turnovers (20-6), second-chance points (9-8) and in bench points (43-27).

CSU-Pueblo scored the first six points of the game over the first three minutes of the game. FLC got on the board at the 15:56 mark on a jumper by Semadeni. Trailing by as many as seven, the Skyhawks fought back to tie and then take the lead with eight minutes to go in the half. Iyekekpolor drilled a three-pointer and then a jumper by Sparks had FLC holding a 20-18 lead.

Sparks pushed the lead to three at 23-20 when he dialed long distance at the 7:05 mark. The ThunderWolves went back in front and held a six-point lead when Boatwright capped the half with a dunk to make it a 34-30 CSU-Pueblo lead at halftime.

Trailing by eight at one point in the second half, FLC began to make their move near the midway point of the second stanza. Sparks grabbed the defensive rebound and went coast-to-coast hitting the jumper in the paint and drawing a foul. He hit the foul shot to push FLC ahead by one.

The ThunderWolves answered with a three, just to watch Wittman drive the baseline and hit the layup while also getting fouled. He converted the foul shot to push FLC back in front by one at 50-49.

Keven Biggs jumped the lead to three at 53-50 when he added a layup at the 9:04 mark. Still in front by two, a quick 6-0 run helped push the Skyhawks ahead for good. Sparks hit a layup and then nailed two from the foul line before Biggs closed the run with a dunk off the fastbreak for the 58-50 lead.

Sparks hit two from the line a few minutes later to jump the lead into double-digits. CSU-Pueblo made one last push to get to within six with 3:37 to play when Marquel Beasley, hampered by foul trouble, re-entered and hit a jumper to push the lead back to eight. Iyekekpolor added a layup for good measure off a Kireed Johnson steal and assist to put the finishing touches on the win.

Donovan Oldham led the ThunderWolves with 19 points, while Harvey Barr added 10. CSU-Pueblo went 21-47 (45) from the field, 4-16 (25) from three and 15-25 (60) at the foul line.

FLC will now return home to face South Dakota Mines on Saturday starting at 7:30 p.m. and then against Black Hills State on Sunday beginning at 5:30 p.m. The games were moved from Friday and Saturday to Saturday and Sunday to accommodate the fall commencement in Whalen Gym Saturday.
 
 
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