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Fort Lewis College Athletics

Scoreboard

Corey Seng 1.11
Maureen Pasley, FLC Athletics
FLC junior Corey Seng scored nine points on 4-for-4 shooting in Saturday's loss to Colorado School of Mines (File Photo).
77
Fort Lewis FLCMBB 10-5, 4-5 RMAC
86
Winner Colo. Sch. of Mines CSM 11-5, 7-2 RMAC
Fort Lewis FLCMBB
10-5, 4-5 RMAC
77
Final
86
Colo. Sch. of Mines CSM
11-5, 7-2 RMAC
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
Fort Lewis FLCMBB 32 45 77
Colo. Sch. of Mines CSM 42 44 86

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

FLC falls by 86-77 final on the road to Colorado School of Mines

GOLDEN, Colorado — The Fort Lewis College men's basketball team fought to the final horn, but had their upset bid of Colorado School of Mines fall short in an 86-77 road loss to the Orediggers.

Fort Lewis (10-5 overall, 4-5 RMAC) received a career-high 20 points from junior guard Will Wittman and shot a respectable 52% (30-of-58) from the field on Saturday. Unfortunately for the Skyhawks, the Orediggers (11-5 overall, 7-2 RMAC) – originally pick No. 1 in the RMAC coaches' preseason poll — were up to the task.

Colorado School of Mines shot 53% (31-of-58) from the field and did a big bulk of its damage from beyond the 3-point arc, finishing the evening 12-of-24 from deep compared to the Skyhawks' 4-of-11.

"Mines is a very good team and I think we got their A-game tonight," said Fort Lewis head coach, Bob Pietrack. "It's very difficult to win on the road, but I was proud of our guys. I thought we showed a lot of fight and kept fighting considering (Mines) kept hitting bombs from 3-point range. The guys kept fighting and we just got to do a little bit better job of putting back-to-back possessions together and string them out in segments."

The 3-point barrage from Mines started in the first half as the Orediggers were 8-of-16 from deep through the game's first 20 minutes to build a 42-32 lead at the break.

"I thought their 3-point shooting and the rebounding (37-25 advantage for CSM) were the big differences in the game," Pietrack said.

Fort Lewis had the CSM lead down to six on two occasions early in the second half on back-to-back buckets from redshirt junior Riley Farris, who was the second Skyhawk in double-figures with 18 points.

The Skyhawks were unable to inch any closer, though, as the Orediggers began to attack the interior of the FLC defense, finishing the night with 36 points in the paint to compliment their hot shooting on the perimeter.

CSM's lead would grow to as many as 21 with 7:43 remaining at 77-58 before the Skyhawks were able to mount a late rally to close back within single digits.

"Their ability to attack us multiple ways really hurt. We wanted to try to make them beat us over the top and then they did," Pietrack said. "Any time we got close, Mines would hit another three or build another gap."

Freshman guard Junior Garbrah and junior Corey Seng, who shot a spotless 4-for-4 from the floor in his 18 minutes, each tallied nine points to aid the Skyhawks' attack. Wittman added a team-high eight rebounds to his 20-point night, edging out his previous career-high of 19 points set Nov. 20 in a win over the University of the Southwest.

Despite a recent tough stretch, Pietrack said there were positives to build on from Saturday as the team prepares for another tough road trip next weekend to take on Western Colorado University (6-9 overall, 3-6 RMAC) and Colorado Mesa University (10-5 overall, 6-3 RMAC).

"We're a young team that's growing. I thought we played better tonight than we did (Friday). We just need to keep trying to get a little better each week," Pietrack said. "That's the only way you can approach it right now. 'Can we get a little bit better?' If we can, then we'll be OK. I do like our team and love the make-up of the guys. We just need to keep trying to tighten things up."
 
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