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Fort Lewis College Athletics

Scoreboard

Corey Seng 2.14
Bob Bonnar, FLC Athletics
FLC junior Corey Seng scored 12 points in Friday's loss to Westminster (File photo).
62
Fort Lewis FLC 13-11,7-11 RMAC
75
Winner Westminster (UT) WC-UT 15-9,10-8 RMAC
Fort Lewis FLC
13-11,7-11 RMAC
62
Final
75
Westminster (UT) WC-UT
15-9,10-8 RMAC
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
Fort Lewis FLC 28 34 62
Westminster (UT) WC-UT 28 47 75

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

Skyhawks unable to overcome second-half run by Westminster

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah — The Fort Lewis College men's basketball team played a strong defensive game Friday evening on the road against Westminster College. Unfortunately, for one of the rare nights in 2019-2020, the offense didn't cooperate in a 75-62 road loss to the Griffins.

"We just weren't able to make shots," said FLC head coach, Bob Pietrack. "As a group, we were 5-of-23 from the 3-point line and it's hard to sustain runs when you're not shooting the ball real well. We had some great looks, but couldn't get the ball to fall. I thought our guys played really hard, but we're not having a lot of luck go our way right now. We'll just keep working."

Fort Lewis (13-11 overall, 7-11 RMAC) and Westminster (15-9 overall, 10-8 RMAC) played a low-scoring first half, heading into the break deadlocked at 28-28; the lowest the FLC defense has held an opponent since limiting Park University to 23 points on Nov. 30 and MSU Denver to 25 on Jan. 3.

The Skyhawks' defended the 3-point line as Westminster was a pedestrian 3-of-8 from deep, but struggled to protect the rim over the final 20 minutes as the Griffins finished with a 48-28 advantage in points in the paint and shot 31-of-54 (57%) from the field.

"We really tried to make an effort to guard the 3-point shot, especially after how Westminster shot the ball the first game," Pietrack said, referring to the Griffins' 15-of-22 mark from deep in the two teams' first meeting on Feb. 1. "They got into the lane too much. In the first half, we did a really nice job. It was just that second half where we didn't do a good enough job and we didn't make enough shots to withstand it."

Westminster created its gap with a 25-6 run early in the second half. Following a pair of free throws from redshirt junior Riley Farris, who lead all Skyhawks with 20 points on Friday, to make it a 35-34 lead for FLC, the Griffins went on the blitz to take a 59-41 lead with 7:28 remaining.

Yeah, that really hurt us," Pietrack said of the run. "I thought tonight was one of our better defensive efforts, but that stretch really hurt us."

Fort Lewis continued to fight, going on a 13-3 run of its own in the second half to crawl back within seven at 62-55, but were unable to overcome the hole.
Freshman guard Akuel Kot, junior guard Will Wittman and junior guard Corey Seng all joined Farris in double-figures with 12 points apiece.

For Seng, the transfer from CSU-Pueblo, the 12 points were a season high as he has continued to blossom in the second half of the season and carved out a spot in the starting lineup.

"Corey has been a bright spot with his energy and he's fitting in well," Pietrack said. "Anytime you get a transfer, there's a little bit of a period where they need to get use to their surroundings, but he's done a nice job. He's a big piece of our team now and moving forward next year."

Up next for the Skyhawks will be a tough 7:30 p.m. Saturday bout against No. 22 ranked Dixie State University, currently tied atop the RMAC standings with Black Hills State University, to close out the road trip.

"We have a lot of pride and we're going to play hard," Pietrack said. "We'll prepare for the game like we do every game; like it's a RMAC Championship game. We'll play our hearts out and see where it lies."
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