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Fort Lewis College Athletics

Scoreboard

Akuel Kot 11.10
Maureen Pasley, FLC Athletics
FLC freshman Akuel Kot scored 15 points in Sunday's victory over Eastern New Mexico.
85
Eastern N.M. EastNM 0-2,0-0 Lone Star
90
Winner Fort Lewis FLC 2-0,0-0 RMAC
Eastern N.M. EastNM
0-2,0-0 Lone Star
85
Final
90
Fort Lewis FLC
2-0,0-0 RMAC
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
Eastern N.M. EastNM 35 50 85
Fort Lewis FLC 45 45 90

Game Recap: Men's Basketball | | David Wilson, Assistant AD-Communications

Fort Lewis receives key bench contributions in 90-85 victory over Eastern New Mexico

DURANGO, Colorado — The cold bite of winter and the sounds of Christmas carols have yet to ring through the downtown streets of Durango. But inside Whalen Gymnasium on Sunday evening, it may as well been early March.

Playing on the second night of its Conference Challenge back-to-back, the Skyhawks edged out a talented Eastern New Mexico University team, 90-85, to put a bow a spotless 2-0 on the opening weekend of the 2019-2020 season.

"I think Eastern is a regional-caliber basketball team and I felt like tonight's game had the intensity and flow of what a NCAA Tournament game would have," said Fort Lewis head men's basketball coach, Bob Pietrack. "To win the weekend and get the two wins was big. These wins are huge and count so much in the regional standings. We're a long way away from thinking about the regional standings, but they all count the same. These were great wins for us and give us a lot of momentum heading into the rest of the home stand."

Fort Lewis (2-0 overall) received a balanced performance Sunday as five Skyhawks finished in double-figures, led by redshirt junior forward Riley Farris with a game-high 21 points on 7-of-10 shooting.

Senior sharpshooter Danny Garrick followed with 17 points on economical 6-of-9 shooting, 5-of-8 from beyond the 3-point arc, while true freshman Akuel Kot added 15 points, five rebounds and three-assists in his game-high 38 minutes.

"Garrick was big down the stretch, made big shots and grabbed some crucial rebounds for us," Pietrack said. "And Akuel Kot was tremendous. For a freshman, he's well beyond his years and had to play basically the whole game tonight."

Kot was one of a handful FLC players who stepped up Sunday when the team was left without starting point guard Logan Hokanson, who exited early with a wrist injury, and when Farris fouled out of the game with 7:30 remaining and the Skyhawks clinging to an 72-69 lead.

Redshirt sophomore forward Brenden Boatwright scored 14 points in his 20 minutes, including five points and a key blocked shot following Farris' exit. True freshman Junior Garbrah also played a key role, scoring seven points, tallying four assists and picking off two steals in his 19 minutes.

"We talk constantly in our program with the guys about what it means to be on a team and the essence of what team means. We saw that when Junior Garbrah step up when Hokanson got injured, and Boatwright stepped up when Farris fouled out," Pietrack said. "To get that type of production from players off your bench, and for them to be game ready, it's a credit to them and the team we have."

Garbrah also provided the highlight of the night when he caught an in-bounds pass with less than a second remaining in the first half, turned and swished an 85-footer to bump FLC's lead to 45-35 at the break.

"In the 20 years I've been at Fort Lewis, four as a player and 16 as a coach, I've never seen that. I've never seen a Fort Lewis player do it or an opponent do it," Pietrack said. "I joked with Junior after that , 'I'm glad they in-bounded it to you because you're the only one strong enough to shoot it that far. That was a cool moment for him…Anytime you can score the last points of a half, it's a big lift. But that was a once in a lifetime shot. The thing that makes it more unbelievable was that it swished. To not hit the rim or backboard, there's almost a better chance of a unicorn walking into Whalen Gymnasium."

As well as the Skyhawks executed offensively, shooting 58 percent (30-of-52) from the floor and 9-of-20 (45%) from 3-point range, they also matched that intensity on the defensive end of the floor.

Fort Lewis limited the Greyhounds, who put up 108 points in Friday night's loss to New Mexico Highlands, to 48% percent shooting, including just 40% in the first half, and forced 15 turnovers.

"We felt like we had a really good plan. Coach (Daniel) Steffensen had been working on this scout for about two weeks on how to keep their guards out of the paint and we stuck to it," Pietrack said. "They made some long 3-pointers in the second half that you just have to live with as a coach, but credit to Coach Steffensen. He had us in the right spots, defensively, and our kids were game for the challenge."

The Skyhawks will now look to rest up Monday and get back to work this week as they prepare for six more home games to begin the season, starting at 7:30 p.m. Friday with its Nike N7 game against Northern New Mexico College.

"We need to take care of the ball better. We can't have 16 turnovers, that's just too many," Pietrack said. "But as the year goes on, we'll get tighter with it (the ball) as guys gain game experience. We gained valuable experience this weekend, and it's great to gain experience while winning. We're really looking forward to next weekend."
 
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