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Fort Lewis College Athletics

Scoreboard

Hokanson 1.18
Peyton Rutkowski
Will Wittman (No. 10) scored 13 points and Logan Hokanson (No. 3) had a career-high 17 in Saturday's loss to Colorado Mesa (File Photo).
91
Fort Lewis FLC 11-6,5-6 RMAC
105
Winner Colorado Mesa CMU 12-5,8-3 RMAC
Fort Lewis FLC
11-6,5-6 RMAC
91
Final
105
Colorado Mesa CMU
12-5,8-3 RMAC
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
Fort Lewis FLC 48 43 91
Colorado Mesa CMU 45 60 105

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

Skyhawks fall to Colorado Mesa, settle for a split on western slope road trip

GRAND JUNCTION, Colorado — Earning a road win inside the RMAC is a tough choir to begin with. On Saturday, the task became near impossible for the Fort Lewis College men's basketball team in a 105-91 loss to Colorado Mesa University as the Mavericks set program records in 3-poiners made (18) and 3-point percentage (78%).

Fort Lewis (11-6 overall, 5-6 RMAC) shot a great percentage of 49% (33-of-67) and the 91 points were the most for the team in a road game so far this season.

But on a night where the Mavericks (12-5 overall, 8-3 RMAC) were unconscious from the field (39-of-59, 61%) and deadly from deep (18-of-23), it came down to not enough stops on the defensive end.

"We're a work in progress, defensively, and I thought (Friday) we got better as a team, collectively," said Fort Lewis head coach, Bob Pietrack, referencing Friday's 88-74 win over Western Colorado. "Mesa just made a lot of shots and when you're on the road, no one can survive 18-of-23 from 3-point distance. Credit them because they made shots."

Colorado Mesa leads the RMAC in team field goal percentage at 52% on the season. The Mavericks ability to attack inside and get to the rim played hand-in-hand to their success from deep on Saturday.

"They shoot such a high field goal percentage that we wanted to try and protect the paint, make them make long shots and they did," Pietrack said. "It was a little bit of both, us not getting out on shooters and them just making shots. We get to play them again in a couple weeks and hopefully we'll be able to do a better job, defensively, on them."

Despite the Mavericks' hot shooting, Fort Lewis stayed toe-to-toe with CMU much of the evening as the Skyhawks led by as many as eight points in first half, held a 48-45 lead at the break, and were within eight points as late as 88-80 with 5:43 remaining following a free throw by junior guard Logan Hokanson.

The free throw capped a run of nine straight points for Hokanson, who finished with a career-high 17 on 6-of-7 shooting. He was one of three Skyhawks in double-figures, led again by redshirt junior forward Riley Farris with 30 points and junior forward Will Wittman with 13 points.

With his 30-point performance, Farris now leads all RMAC players with 421 points in 17 games played this season and is tied with New Mexico Highlands guard Sammy Barnes-Thompkins for the conference lead at 24.8 points per game.

Freshmen guards Junior Garbrah and Akuel Kot, as well as junior guard Corey Seng all added nine points, as well, to round out FLC's top scorers.

Following a 1-1 road trip, the Skyhawks will now rest up and prepare for a crucial four-game home stand that starts at 7:30 p.m. Friday against Regis University (10-7 overall, 5-6 RMAC).

"We're really excited to get home. You're never happy with a split on the road after you win the first one, but the main thing for us is knowing we need to play better at home," Pietrack said. "The last time we were home we laid an egg. I know our guys are thinking about that. We're going to come in next Friday with great energy. We play a Regis team that has beat us three in a row, so we're excited for that game and see where it lands."
 
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