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Fort Lewis College Athletics

Scoreboard

Boatwright 1.31
Bob Bonnar, FLC Athletics
FLC redshirt sophomore Brenden Boatwright finished with 13 points in Friday's loss to Dixie State.
90
Winner Dixie St. Dixie 17-3,12-2 RMAC
72
Fort Lewis FLC 13-7,7-7 RMAC
Winner
Dixie St. Dixie
17-3,12-2 RMAC
90
Final
72
Fort Lewis FLC
13-7,7-7 RMAC
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
Dixie St. Dixie 38 52 90
Fort Lewis FLC 38 34 72

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

Skyhawks upset bid of No. 19 ranked Dixie State falls shy

DURANGO, Colorado — The Fort Lewis College men's basketball team played the No. 19 ranked team in the country to a draw through the first 20 minutes. But, unfortunately for the Skyhawks, they were unable to put a complete 40 minutes together in a 90-72 loss to nationally ranked Dixie State University.

"I thought we had a really good first half and we really battled then weren't able to sustain it on the defensive end," said Fort Lewis head coach, Bob Pietrack. "Then we had a gap, started to take longer shots because you get desperate. I don't think it was a 20-point game, thought it was much closer than that. I thought it was a really good game for about 30 minutes and then we, for whatever reason, are just not able to concentrate long enough defensively to execute against a really good team."

Fort Lewis (13-7 overall, 7-7 RMAC) got off to a tremendous start Friday, opening the game on a 10-4 run and leading by as many as 10 points at 24-14 at the 10:17 mark of the first half on a 3-pointer from junior guard Corey Seng.

Dixie State (17-3 overall, 12-2 RMAC) crawled back to take a three-point lead of its own, but had to settle for a 38-38 tie at the break when FLC redshirt junior Riley Farris hit a 3-pointer with three ticks remaining before the half to sent the Skyhawks into the locker room with momentum.

"I do credit our team because I thought we came ready to play," Pietrack said. "We had a good first half, built a lead up and had a good lead on them."

Farris and fellow junior Will Wittman paced FLC with 16 points apiece on Friday, while Farris added five bounds and a blocked shot and Wittman chipped in four rebounds.

Joining Farris and Wittman in double-figures for the Skyhawks was freshman guard Akuel Kot with 12 points and redshirt sophomore forward Brenden Boatwright with 13 points; one off his season-high of 14 points set during the opening weekend in a 90-85 win over Eastern New Mexico University.

"I thought Will had a good game and he's really had a solid season for just being a junior. He's a borderline All-Conference player as he keeps working," Pietrack said. "I thought Boatwright was good for us, so was (Corey) Seng. I actually thought our bench played really well, collectively."

Fort Lewis received 34 points from its bench and shot a serviceable 43% (25-of-58) from the field on Friday, but were unable to keep pace with the lights out shooting of the Trailblazers, who ended the evening 38-of-65 (59%) from the field, 10-of-22 from 3-point range (46%) and with a 37-27 edge in rebounding."

"It really truly comes down to the defensive end for us and then rebounding. We had some big rebounds we didn't get where we'd get up four and (Dixie State) would get an offensive rebound and put-back," Pietrack said. "That's deflating. It's just the littlest things. I think our team has had some improvement the last three weeks, even though the scoreboard won't show it tonight."

The Skyhawks were within five at 63-58 nearing the midway point of the second half before the Trailblazers went on a 14-2 blitz over the next two and a half minutes to push their lead to 77-60 with 7:30 remaining, effectively ending FLC's attempt at the upset bid.

Fort Lewis will look to bounce back in a pivotal matchup Saturday against Westminster College (13-7 overall, 8-6 RMAC), which comes to Durango just one-game up on the Skyhawks in a crowded RMAC standings where fourth through eleventh place are separated by one game.

Tip-off is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. inside Whalen Gymnasium.

"(Saturday) is a huge game for us if you look at the way the conference is right now," Pietrack said. "It's a game we're going to need to have and Westminster is a really good team. They're very much like Dixie where they're an older group that's really strong. We're going to have to play really well."
 
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