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Fort Lewis College Athletics

Scoreboard

Brenden Boatwright 12.18
Chris Neal, Shooter Imaging
78
Colo. Sch. of Mines CSM 4-5,2-3 RMAC
86
Winner Fort Lewis FLC 8-4,4-2 RMAC
Colo. Sch. of Mines CSM
4-5,2-3 RMAC
78
Final
86
Fort Lewis FLC
8-4,4-2 RMAC
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
Colo. Sch. of Mines CSM 43 35 78
Fort Lewis FLC 41 45 86

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

FLC front court leads the charge in 86-78 statement win over Colorado School of Mines

DURANGO, Colo. — The Fort Lewis College men's basketball team put an exclamation point on the end of the fall semester Saturday evening, grinding out an 86-78 come-from-behind victory over Colorado School of Mines.

Fort Lewis (8-4 overall, 4-2 RMAC), playing without two of its top guards in Will Wittman and Akuel Kot, responded from a tough 81-71 loss Friday night against Regis University to earn its first win over the visiting Orediggers (4-5 overall, 2-3 RMAC) since March 5, 2016; a 73-72 win inside Whalen Gymnasium.

"We've had a ton of really big wins throughout the years, but this one is a massive win considering everything that was involved in it," said FLC head men's basketball coach, Bob Pietrack. "As a staff, we're as proud of that win as you can be heading into break. We were short-handed, played from behind much of the second half against a really good team, it's an absolute great victory for us."

While short-handed in the back court, the Skyhawks leaned on their All-RMAC front court of redshirt junior Brenden Boatwright and senior forward Riley Farris as the duo combined for 48 points and 18 rebounds on the evening.

Boatwright, moved from the starting five to the primary scorer of the bench role on Saturday, notched his first career double-double with season highs in points (22) and rebounds (11). The big man was dominant inside, overpowering defenders for an economical 6-of-10 mark from the floor and shooting 10-of-12 from the free-throw line.

As for Farris, he led all scorers with a game-high 26 points, including a dagger 3-pointer with 1:21 remaining that pushed the Skyhawks' lead to six at 82-76.

"We wanted to feature Boatwright in that second group and give him the ball a ton," Pietrack said. "Then Farris closed the game out and that's what a senior should do. A senior All-American; when you need it the most, that guy needs to make big plays and he made a lot of big plays."

Colorado School of Mines, which had four different players in double-figures led by Ben Boone's career-high 24 points, made the evening a grind for the Skyhawks, leading for 24:30 of game time before FLC's late second-half surge.

Fort Lewis took its first lead of the second half at the 8:00 minutes on a 3-pointer from senior guard JacQuess Hobbs, who finished with seven points and led FLC with five assists and three steals, defensively.

The Skyhawks would maintain a four-point lead at 75-71 crossing under the 3:00 mark. After struggling the past two seasons to put tight games away late, Fort Lewis flourished on Saturday as they closed the game on a 9-4 burst over the final 2:45 to salt away the 86-78 final.

"A three-minute game; we've had those games go the other way. We've been working, working and working so that, the next time we were in that position, that it would go our way," Pietrack said. "Hopefully we've finally gotten over the hump with that and it's something we can do on the regular."

As a team, the Skyhawks finished 30-of-56 (53.6%) from the field and a season-best 9-of-16 (56.3%) from the 3-point line while committing just 10 turnovers.

Defensively, FLC was able to limit the Orediggers to 3-of-8 (37.5%) shooting from beyond the arc over the final 20 minutes after CSM posted a 7-for-13 (53.8) clip in the first half.

Senior guard Corey Seng joined Hobbs with seven points in his team-high 33:44 of court time.

Redshirt sophomore Brendan La Rose, who earned his first start of the season Saturday, added six points and two rebounds while hitting a crucial 3-pointer with one second remaining in the first half to send FLC into the locker rooms down just two at 43-41.

Fort Lewis will now have a chance to heal up and prepare for the spring portion of its season, which will get underway Tuesday, Jan. 4 with a road trip out to Rapid City, South Dakota for a matchup against South Dakota Mines. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.

"We have our whole season ahead of us. All of our goals are ahead of us," Pietrack said. "We have a tough stretch when we get back from break with three road games in five days and look forward to that challenge. We love our team, love the direction we're heading."
 
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