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Fort Lewis College Athletics

Scoreboard

Logan Hokanson
Maureen Pasley, FLC Athletics
FLC junior Logan Hokanson had eight points and seven assists in Friday's loss to New Mexico Highlands.
98
Winner N.M. Highlands NMH 6-0,1-0 RMAC
83
Fort Lewis FLC 6-1,0-1 RMAC
Winner
N.M. Highlands NMH
6-0,1-0 RMAC
98
Final
83
Fort Lewis FLC
6-1,0-1 RMAC
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
N.M. Highlands NMH 39 59 98
Fort Lewis FLC 49 34 83

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

Skyhawks fall to New Mexico Highlands in battle of unbeatens

DURANGO, Colorado — Friday's RMAC opening nightcap between the Fort Lewis College men's basketball team and New Mexico Highlands University, the reigning RMAC Tournament champions, lived up to its billing.

It was a playoff atmosphere for an early December matchup inside Whalen Gymnasium, with ach team stepping on the floor with early undefeated records and eager to show they are a force to reckon with inside a deep RMAC conference.

Unfortunately for the Skyhawks, it was the Cowboys who departed Durango with the victory, using a 59-point, second-half outburst to claim the 98-83 victory.

"It was really a high-level game and credit New Mexico Highlands. I didn't think we lost the game, I just thought they won the game," said Fort Lewis head coach, Bob Pietrack. "They were excellent and all three of their guards played really, really good. We didn't have much of an answer for the quickness up top."

The Cowboys (6-0 overall, 1-0 RMAC) were led by their trio of Raquan Mitchell and Sammy Barnes-Thompkins, each Division I transfers, and Desmond Carpenter as the three combined for 73 of NMHU's 98 points.

Barnes-Thompkins scored 21 of his 23 in the second half to lead the comeback effort the Cowboys, who erased a 49-39 halftime lead for the Skyhawks (6-1 overall, 0-1 RMAC).

While NMHU seemingly couldn't miss in the second half, shooting at an absurd 22-of-31 clip (71%), the Skyhawks' offense, which was 17-of-29 (59%) in the first half, went cold.

Fort Lewis was able to get clean perimeter looks against the Cowboys' full-court pressure that sagged back into a 2-3 zone, but were just 1-of-15 from 3-point range in the second half.

"No doubt it hurt us. The zone hurt us. We didn't execute the way we needed to against the zone and we needed to do a better job getting the ball inside," Pietrack said. "We didn't make any shots in the second half either…It's easy to zone somebody when they don't make anything. I thought we had good, clean looks and just didn't make any. I thought we made a lot (of shots) in the first half, didn't make any in the second half. It was a tale of two halves."

Despite the shooting woes, the Skyhawks fought their way back from a 12-point deficit with 9:06 remaining to inch back within four after redshirt junior Riley Farris converted a three-point play at the 6:33 mark to make it a 78-74 ballgame.

Farris led all FLC scorers with 25 points on 10-of-16 shooting; his seventh straight game with 21 or more points to start 2019-2020.

Freshman guard Akuel Kot added 19 points and senior Danny Garrick finished with 15 points to round out the three Skyhawks in double-figures, while junior point guard Logan Hokanson scored eight points and dished out a season-high seven assists.

Unfortunately, the lid went back on the basket for the Skyhawks over the final six minutes and change as New Mexico Highlands was able to methodically work its lead back up to 18 and hold on for the 98-83 final.

"We just simply didn't make enough shots in the second half," Pietrack said. "Against a team like New Mexico Highlands that is so good, if you miss and take long shots they are out of there. We couldn't stop the transition and you're not going to win a RMAC game in the second half if you can't do better than 1-for-15 from 3-point range. But we'll go back to the drawing board. This was a good test for us, we kind of know where we're at and what we need to work on and where we need to get better."

Fort Lewis will now look to shake this one off and prepare for another tough test Saturday night with a 7:30 p.m. matchup against Colorado State University-Pueblo (3-4 overall, 1-0 RMAC).

"It's a basketball game. Sometimes it goes your way and sometimes it doesn't go your way," Pietrack said. "We like our team a lot and think we're going to keep getting better. Win or lose in this league, you must immediately get ready for the next game. No time to pout, no time to do anything. We just have to get back at it and get ready for a very good Pueblo team."
 
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