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Fort Lewis College Athletics

Scoreboard

Brenden Boatwright
Max DeHerrera/Sports Fanatic Photography
100
Winner UC-Colo. Springs UCCS 9-5, 6-2 RMAC
99
Fort Lewis FLC 7-7, 2-6 RMAC
Winner
UC-Colo. Springs UCCS
9-5, 6-2 RMAC
100
Final
99
Fort Lewis FLC
7-7, 2-6 RMAC
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
UC-Colo. Springs UCCS 39 61 100
Fort Lewis FLC 55 44 99

Game Recap: Men's Basketball | | Brian Kortz

Boatwright Scores Career-High 22 Points as Men’s Basketball Falls in Heartbreaker Against UCCS

DURANGO, Colo. – Redshirt freshman Brenden Boatwright certainly had a game to remember, as he led all-scorers with a career-high 22 points in leading the way for the Fort Lewis College men's basketball team. Despite his big game, UC-Colorado Springs fought back in the second half to pull out the 100-99 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference victory Friday night inside Whalen Gym.

Boatwright was sure efficient in his 20 minutes on the floor, going 5-9 from the field and 12-12 from the foul line for his 22 points. He also grabbed five rebounds and dished out an assist. FLC (7-7, 2-6 RMAC) ended up having four players in double-figures followed by 19 from Alex Semadeni, 14 from Marquel Beasley and 10 from Otas Iyekekpolor.

After trading baskets early on, FLC began to make their move when Will Wittman drilled a three-pointer just over four minutes in for the 12-8 lead. Iyekekpolor pushed the lead to 10 with a jumper at the 9:41 mark for the 28-18 advantage.

Following a basket from UCCS (), the Skyhawks would go on a 9-0 run started by a layup by Keven Biggs off the fastbreak. Wyatt Hayes added his own fastbreak layup when he did a nice fake pass and then laid it in. Brendan La Rose added a tip-in before Semadeni capped the run with a three that left FLC looking at a 37-20 advantage.

The lead got as high as 20 a couple of times before the half, with the last coming with just over a minute to go on a layup by Semadeni in transition. The Mountain Lions then reeled off the next six points before Boatwright closed the half with a layup off a pass from Semadeni for the 55-39 halftime lead.

Despite a few strong runs by UCCS, FLC kept weathering the storm and went back ahead by 17 with 12 minutes to play when AJ Sparks hit two from the line. A minute later, a Hayes layup kept the advantage at 16 when UCCS began to roar back.

A layup by Blend Avdili helped spark a 10-0 run over the next three minutes that all-of-a-sudden had the Mountain Lions back to within six. After UCCS whittled the deficit to three, FLC went on a 4-0 run to push back ahead by seven off free throws by Boatwright and Semadeni for the 82-75 lead with 4:30 to play.

It was a physical game throughout, as the teams combined for 64 fouls and there were 86 total free throws attempted, along with four technical fouls that were called.

The final few minutes proved that the fouls were about to rise, and free throws were going to be clutch. Still in front by seven with three minutes to play, the Mountain Lions used a big five-point play to go in front as Daraun Clark hit the shot and was fouled. On the play, there was a technical foul called. UCCS hit both technical free throws and then Clark hit the and-one foul shot to complete the five-point play that had the Mountain Lions in front 87-86 with 2:16 to play.
It was almost an identical play on the other end of the floor, as UCCS fouled and then were whistled for a technical. Semadeni would split the free throws, as well as Hayes, but FLC moved back in front 88-87 with 2:05 to play. On the missed free throw by Hayes, Iyekekpolor came up with the big offensive rebound that eventually ended up with Semadeni being fouled. He would hit both shots to move the lead to three.

The Skyhawks looked to be in good shape after holding UCCS on the next trip down and Boatwright drew a foul with 1:25 to play. He continued his perfect free throw shooting as he sunk two more to push the lead to five.

Elijah Ross then began to take over for UCCS, as he continued to drive and either hit the shot or get fouled or in some cases, both. Just eight seconds after Boatwright's free throws, Ross drove, hit the layup and was fouled. He completed the three-point-play to trim the deficit to two.

On the next FLC trip, Hayes was fouled out high and he hit both to give FLC a 94-90 lead with 1:17 to play. The fouls continued, as Ross again drove and was fouled. He would make both to cut the lead down to two.

With still a minute to play, Kireed Johnson was fouled on his drive attempt and he would split the free throws leaving the lead at three. Padiet Wang answered for UCCS with a dunk and another foul on the Mountain Lions followed. Iyekekpolor came through, as he hit both from the line to push the lead back to three with 46 seconds to play.

As expected, Ross was ready to drive again for UCCS and just five seconds after the FLC free throws, he attacked, hit the layup and was fouled. This time though he missed the foul shot leaving it a one-point FLC lead.

On the ensuing FLC possession, a missed shot was rebounded by the Mountain Lions and quickly pushed up the floor to Wang who was waiting at the three-point line and he sunk the triple to give UCCS a 99-97 lead with 25 seconds to play.

Out of a timeout, the Skyhawks worked it around to Semadeni who drove the lane and was fouled. He would hit both to tie the game at 99 with 13 seconds to play.

That left time for UCCS and it was Ross who again took the ball up the floor and drove. It was a close play near the paint, as it was almost a charge, but was called a block on Wittman sending Ross back to the line. He would hit the first to put the Mountain Lions ahead and with just 2.4 seconds to play, intentionally missed the second shot. La Rose grabbed the board and hit Semadeni, but his contested three-quarter-court shot hit the backboard leaving UCCS with the 100-99 victory.

FLC ended up shooting 50 percent (29-58) from the field, 4-14 (29) from three and 37-45 (82) at the foul line. The Skyhawks held the edge on second-chance points (17-5), bench points (43-32) and points in the paint (42-32).

Wang led four Mountain Lions in double-figures with 19. Brandon Malone added 18, Avdili with 16 and Ross with 13. UCCS went 29-54 (54) from the field, 12-25 (48) from three and 30-41 (73) from the foul line.

FLC will remain at home tomorrow (Saturday) when they will face Colorado School of Mines starting at 7:30 p.m. The Orediggers, currently receiving votes in the latest NABC National Poll, picked up a 84-70 win over Adams State earlier on Friday for their 10th straight victory.
 
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