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Fort Lewis College Athletics

Scoreboard

Will Wittman 1.3
Peyton Rutkowski
FLC junior Will Wittman scored 17 points in Friday's win over Metro State.
65
MSU Denver MSUD 6-6,2-4 RMAC
78
Winner Fort Lewis FLC 10-2,4-2 RMAC
MSU Denver MSUD
6-6,2-4 RMAC
65
Final
78
Fort Lewis FLC
10-2,4-2 RMAC
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
MSU Denver MSUD 25 40 65
Fort Lewis FLC 32 46 78

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

Skyhawks halt Roadrunners, roll to 78-65 victory

DURANGO, Colorado — The Fort Lewis College men's basketball team has known since the start of the fall semester that it was going to be a ballclub that could score the basketball. Defense was the looming question heading into the holiday break.

But on Friday, in its first test of 2020, the Skyhawks responded with their best defensive effort of the season, limiting Metropolitan State University of Denver to just 33 percent shooting on Friday en route to a 78-65 victory inside Whalen Gymnasium.

"I thought (Associate Head Coach, Daniel Steffensen) had a really good game plan defensively, and we worked really hard at it," said Fort Lewis head coach, Bob Pietrack. "We've been focused on trying to do the very best we can at trying to make people take long shots because we've got to protect the paint. That's basketball. We've got to get the ball in the paint, and we've got to protect the paint. It's pretty simple."

Mission accomplished for the Skyhawks (10-2 overall, 4-2 RMAC), who moved into a four-way tie for second place in the RMAC standings behind Dixie State University with the victory. The 65 points for the visiting Roadrunners (6-6 overall, 2-4 RMAC) were the second fewest allowed by FLC this season and the 33% shooting (23-of-69) was a season-best forced by the Skyhawks' defense.

Of the 69 shots taken by Metro State, 36 came from beyond the 3-point arc (10-of-36) as Fort Lewis was able to consistently clog the paint and close off driving lanes.

Fort Lewis would own a 32-25 lead at the half before the offense found its footing in the second half, sparked by another monster game from redshirt junior forward Riley Farris.

After being frustrated and limited to seven points through the first 20 minutes, Farris poured in 18 of his game-high 25 in the second half. He'd add seven rebounds and a team-high two blocks in his 32 minutes, as well.

"Give credit to Metro, they're a good defensive team," Farris said. "(Kendall) McIntosh is one of the best out there. They were showing a lot of focus on Danny Garrick because he's such an elite shooter. He brings so much attention, and it makes it so much easier for us. The second half, I had to take it upon myself to take better shots than I was in the first half."

Junior forward Will Wittman provided the bulk of the secondary scoring, tallying 17 points on an efficient 6-of-8 shooting. Wittman also grabbed six rebounds while playing a career-high 36 minutes.

FLC led by as many as 16 points with 7:59 remaining following a 3-pointer by Farris that upped the FLC advantage to 67-51.

The Skyhawks would have to survive one final gasp by the Roadrunners, who cut the deficit down to 10 at 69-59 at the 4:00 mark and back within single digits at 74-65 with 43 seconds remaining.

Junior point guard Logan Hokanson sank all four of his free throws in the final seconds, though, to seal the 78-65 final.

Hokanson, who battled foul trouble all evening, finished with nine points in just 12 minutes while freshman point guard Junior Garbrah continued to shine off the bench as he was the third Skyhawk in double-figures with 12 points.

Senior forward Danny Garrick led the rebounding efforts for FLC, grabbing a game-high 12 boards, 11 coming on the defensive glass.

Up next for the Skyhawks will be a 7:30 p.m. showdown on Saturday against Chadron State College (2-10 overall, 1-5 RMAC) to close out a three-game home stand.

"Chadron always plays hard," Pietrack said. "We had a great game with them last year up there, and coach (Houston) Reed is an excellent coach, and those guys play hard… If you look at this league, it's every night. These teams are good, and if you don't bring it, you'll get beat. We will get rest tonight, try to get focused and try to play our best game again (Saturday) night."
 
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