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Fort Lewis College Athletics

Scoreboard

Cesar Molina 3.2
Benjamin Brashear, FLC Marketing
FLC redshirt junior Cesar Molina scored five points in Tuesday's RMAC quarterfinal against BHSU (File Photo).
67
Fort Lewis FLC 7-9,6-9 RMAC
75
Winner Black Hills St. BHSU 11-6,11-6 RMAC
Fort Lewis FLC
7-9,6-9 RMAC
67
Final
75
Black Hills St. BHSU
11-6,11-6 RMAC
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
Fort Lewis FLC 36 31 67
Black Hills St. BHSU 30 45 75

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

#6 seed Skyhawks fall to #3 Black Hills State in RMAC quarterfinals

SPEARFISH, South Dakota — Playing short-handed without First-Team All-RMAC center Riley Farris, the Fort Lewis College men's basketball team gave every ounce of effort it had Tuesday night during its RMAC Tournament quarterfinal matchup against No. 3 seed Black Hills State University.

Unfortunately for the No. 6 Skyhawks, the Yellow Jackets did have their own First-Team All-RMAC player cooking as Joel Scott tallied a game-high 30 points to lift BHSU to a 75-67 win and on to the RMAC semi-finals.

"I thought our players played their hearts out. I was really proud of how hard we played," said Fort Lewis head coach, Bob Pietrack. "Black Hills played very well and Joel Scott played very well. Their star player was great and our leading scorer wasn't here, and that does create hole, offensively, when you need big buckets."

Without Farris, the RMAC's leading scorer at 21.8 points per game, out due to a head injury sustained last Saturday, the Skyhawks (7-9 overall, 6-8 RMAC) rose to the challenge in the first half as they received 18 bench points en route to building a 36-30 lead at the break.

Junior guard Dunnell Stafford chipped in five points and two steals, junior forward Brendan La Rose added five points and four rebounds, and sophomore guard Akuel Kot scored four early points through the game's first 20 minutes to help the Skyhawks get rolling.

"We were scrapping and playing really hard. Akuel, Dunnell and La Rose all hit some big shots to keep us in it," Pietrack said. "Unfortunately, some of those shots dried up a little bit in the second half and Joel Scott took over the game."

Scott, the RMAC's second-leading scorer at 20.8 points per game, scored 21 of his 30 points in the second half, helping BHSU erase what was a nine-point lead for the Skyhawks as late as 41-32 with 17:53 remaining.

Fort Lewis took away the 3-point arc (4-of-12) from the Yellow Jackets on Tuesday, and kept them off the foul line (6-of-10) in the first half, but struggled to corral a shifty 6'7 Scott inside the painted area.

"We didn't want to double on Scott because we didn't want to give up threes and we did a really nice job of keeping them from making threes and getting to the foul line until late, when we had to foul," Pietrack said. "We just didn't make enough shots in the second half to win a game, on the road, especially in the RMAC Tournament."

Redshirt junior Brenden Boatwright capped off his stellar 2021 season with a team-high 16 points and five rebounds, giving him 13 straight games with double-figures after being inserted into the starting lineup in December. Boatwright set career-highs in 2020-21 with 11.1 points and 4.5 rebounds per contest.

Joining him in double-figures Tuesday was senior guard Will Wittman with 12 points on 5-of-9 shooting, while junior Joey Naccarato added seven points and a career-high 10 rebounds.

Redshirt junior guard Cesar Molina, the lone graduating academic senior for the Skyhawks this season, scored five points in his final collegiate game.

Fort Lewis, set to return the bulk of its core from this season, will now turn its attention toward an enticing 2021-22 campaign.

"I thought there were so many positives and we're so much further along than we were at this time last year as a program. From that standpoint, our season was extremely successful," Pietrack said. "We had new players show they are going to be good Fort Lewis players, and then we had some younger players growing up who have arrived and are leading the program. We're going miss Cesar desperately as a leader, but know we have the bulk of our team back. We need a great offseason, a great summer, and then hopefully by November we can welcome back the loyal fans in Durango and have a really good team to show them."
 
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