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Fort Lewis College Athletics

Scoreboard

Corey Seng 2.8
Peyton Rutkowski
FLC senior Corey Seng scored seven points, added eight rebounds and six assists in Monday's loss to CSU Pueblo (File Photo)
77
Fort Lewis FLC 5-5,4-5 RMAC
84
Winner Colorado St.-Pueblo CSU-P 3-6,3-6 RMAC
Fort Lewis FLC
5-5,4-5 RMAC
77
Final
84
Colorado St.-Pueblo CSU-P
3-6,3-6 RMAC
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
Fort Lewis FLC 49 28 77
Colorado St.-Pueblo CSU-P 39 45 84

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

Fatigue and free throws spoil fast start for Skyhawks in 84-77 road loss to CSU Pueblo

PUEBLO, Colorado — It was the tale of two halves for the Fort Lewis College men's basketball team on Monday during its 1 p.m. matinee against Colorado State University Pueblo.

Fort Lewis shot a sizzling 64% from the field in the first 20 minutes en route to building a 10-point lead at the break. But tired legs to end a three-game road trip opened the door for the ThunderWolves to storm back and claim an 84-77 final.

"It's very hard to play three road games in a week. Our conditioning wasn't there, we were tired, and that's completely on me," said FLC head men's basketball coach, Bob Pietrack.

The Skyhawks (5-5 overall, 4-5 RMAC), riding a three-game win streak and fresh off an 83-64 drubbing of UCCS on Saturday where the team shot 58.2% for the game, picked up where they left off in the first half Monday.

Fort Lewis went into the halftime locker rooms with a 49-39 lead behind 64% shooting (21-of-33) and 22 first-half points from senior forward Riley Farris, who earlier Monday was named the RMAC Offensive Player of the Week for Week 10.

The script flipped in the second half, though, as FLC shot 36.4% (12-of-33) over the final 20 minutes — 0-for-9 from the 3-point line — and struggled to get to the free throw line, where the team finished 7-of-14 for the game.

"We got Farris going early and made some shots. We were prepared and ready to play," Pietrack said of the first-half offense. "I thought we got good looks again in the second half, just didn't make as many as we wanted."

CSU Pueblo (3-8 overall, 3-8 RMAC) took advantage of its 31 trips to the free-throw line, finishing the game 27-of-31 (87.1%), including 22-of-24 (91.7%) in the second half to help fuel its comeback.

"I thought we were a little slow on defense, I thought (CSU Pueblo) got a couple favorable calls on some charge-block calls that changed the momentum of the game," Pietrack said. "CSU Pueblo also made its free throws and we missed a lot of free throws. All you can do is just tip your cap. They played a really good game."

Farris finished with a team-high 26 points, adding 5 rebounds and four assists in his 32 minutes. Fellow big man, redshirt junior Brenden Boatwright, and senior guard Will Wittman each added 13 points.

Sophomore guard Akuel Kot chipped in nine points and senior guard Corey Seng, a transfer from CSU Pueblo prior to the 2019-20 season, posted a stat line of seven points, eight rebounds and a team-high six assists in his return to Massari Arena.

Fort Lewis will have a few days to rest up and prepare for Round Two against No. 1 ranked Colorado School of Mines (10-0 overall, 9-0 RMAC). Tip-off against CSM is set for 7:30 p.m. Friday inside Whalen Gymnasium.

The Skyhawks hung toe-to-toe with the top-ranked Orediggers in the first meeting between the two teams back on Jan. 3; a 79-73 win for CSM up in Golden.

"Colorado Mines is the No. 1 ranked team in the country for a reason," Pietrack said. "They have great players, great coaches and they're just a great overall team. We're going to have to play our very best.
 
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