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Fort Lewis College Athletics

Scoreboard

JacQuess Hobbs 11.27
Angela Roberts, FLC Athletic Communications
FLC senior JacQuess Hobbs (#11) scored a season-high 19 points on Saturday against Central Washington (File photo).
89
Winner Central Wash. CentWA 3-1,0-0 Great Northwest
87
Fort Lewis FLC 4-2,0-0 RMAC
Winner
Central Wash. CentWA
3-1,0-0 Great Northwest
89
Final
87
Fort Lewis FLC
4-2,0-0 RMAC
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
Central Wash. CentWA 41 48 89
Fort Lewis FLC 38 49 87

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

Hobbs pours in season-high 19 points, but Skyhawks fall in 89-87 thriller against Central Washington

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah — The Fort Lewis College men's basketball team closed out non-conference play with a thriller on Saturday evening, but were unfortunately on the short end of an 89-87 back-and-forth affair inevitably decided by which high-powered offense would have the ball last.

After the Skyhawks (4-2 overall) tied the game with 21 seconds remaining, Central Washington (2-1 overall) senior guard David Thompson was able to get a contested layup to fall with 3.8 left on the clock for what proved to be the game-winner.

"We didn't switch the ball-screen like we needed to and (Thompson) got our hip. He made a tough shot to win it, but it was a little bit of a defensive breakdown," said FLC head men's basketball coach, Bob Pietrack. "We didn't execute that last play perfectly, but give credit to the kid because he made a tough layup. I'm proud of our guys and thought we played really hard, just came up a little short."

The layup from Thompson was the last of 15 lead changes and 17 ties on the evening between the Skyhawks and the GNAC perennial power Wildcats. Fort Lewis pulled even at 87-87 on a clutch shot from one of its own senior guards JacQuess Hobbs as he rose up and buried a midrange jumper for two of his season-high 19 points with 0:21 remaining.

Hobbs finished an efficient 8-of-13 from the floor, adding three steals, four rebounds and two assists in his 32 minutes while showing the big-game experience the Skyhawks were looking for when they added the transfer from Eastern Kentucky.

"That was just a senior playing in a NCAA regional caliber game," Pietrack said of Hobbs' performance. "He played very well. The way (CWU) was crowding the post, we kept it in JacQuess' hands quite a bit."

Fellow senior Riley Farris also finished with 19 points and a season-high eight rebounds to lead all FLC scorers, while redshirt junior forward Brenden Boatwright was the third Skyhawk in double-figures with 17.

Fort Lewis a solid 48.4% (31-of-64) from the field on Saturday, just a shade under the team's season average of 50%, while the Wildcats finished the night a sizzling 56% from the floor (37-of-66) with 58 points in the paint.

It was a small hiccup for a FLC defense that had limited opponents to 64 points or less during its three-game win streak entering Saturday's matchup.

"Defensively, we didn't play well enough to win. They shot 55% and I thought that was the difference in the game," Pietrack said. "If we had held them in the upper-40's I think the game would have been different. But besides that, it was two really good teams playing and they just made one more play than we did."

Sophomore guard Junior Garbrah had his best performance of the young season on Saturday, scoring nine points on 3-of-4 shooting from 3-point range in his seven minutes off the bench.

Senior guard Corey Seng and sophomore Akuel Kot each added eight points apiece, as well, to help pace the FLC offense.

Fort Lewis will now head home following the weekend split out in Salt Lake City — FLC earned an 89-63 win over Western Oregon on Friday — and prepare for the RMAC opener, which is set for 7:30 p.m. this Friday on the road against Chadron State College.

The Skyhawks then conclude a challenging opening weekend with a 6 p.m. road game against Black Hills State University on Saturday.

"I think throughout the non-conference portion of our schedule, we've shown we're a really good Division II basketball team. We just need to get over the hump in some of the bigger games," Pietrack said. "We like our team a lot, we're very much together, and we just need to keep moving forward. At this point in the season, you're still focusing on getting better week to week and knowing that the RMAC season — the season the means the most to our guys — starts Friday out in Chadron."
 
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