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Fort Lewis College Athletics

Scoreboard

Riley Farris 1.21
Angela Roberts, FLC Athletic Communications
76
Colorado St.-Pueblo CSU-P 8-9,5-6 RMAC
85
Winner Fort Lewis FLC 9-5,5-3 RMAC
Colorado St.-Pueblo CSU-P
8-9,5-6 RMAC
76
Final
85
Fort Lewis FLC
9-5,5-3 RMAC
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
Colorado St.-Pueblo CSU-P 30 46 76
Fort Lewis FLC 33 52 85

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

Skyhawks claim first win of 2022, grind out an 85-76 home victory against CSU Pueblo

DURANGO, Colo. — The Fort Lewis College men's basketball team returned home for the first time in 2022 on Friday night, opening the New Year in style with an 85-76 victory over Colorado State University Pueblo inside Whalen Gymnasium.

Fort Lewis (9-5 overall, 5-3 RMAC), which hasn't played in 17 days due to multiple postponements, shook off the rust and were able to grind out a much needed win against a gritty ThunderWolves team (8-9 overall, 5-6 RMAC), erasing the bad taste of a loss to South Dakota Mines the Skyhawks' last time out on January 4.

"I told the guys this week that, 'We've only played once in the last 33 days. And the one time we did play, we played really poorly. This is the second half of our season. The first half is over, and we want the second half to be our half,'" said FLC head men's basketball coach, Bob Pietrack. "Tonight was a very good start to that."

Leading the way for Fort Lewis was its All-RMAC forward tandem of senior Riley Farris and junior Brenden Boatwright, each of whom poured in 19 points to pace four different Skyhawks in double-figures.

Farris shot 7-of-15 from the floor, matching his season average of 19 points in the process, while Boatwright came off the bench — scoring 13 of his 19 points in the second half — and added six rebounds and was a spotless 7-of-7 from the free throw line.

Boatwright's 19 points helped lift a FLC bench that dominated the ThunderWolves, 31-3, in bench scoring. He also led the team with six fouls drawn, including three charges taken and two in the second half to help the Skyhawks turn a 33-30 halftime lead into an 11-point gap at 56-45 by the 12:32 mark.

"Boatwright, especially in the second half, was just enormous," Pietrack said. "But that's what you expect from an All-League player. Not only defensively, but his rebounds, his put-backs and free throws; just everything you'd expect from a player of Boat's caliber."

Fort Lewis received a handful of key contributions in its return to the win column on Friday, with sophomore guard Junior Garbrah tallying eight first-half points on 3-for-3 shooting, as well as a pair of 12-point performances from starting guards Akuel Kot and JacQuess Hobbs.

Senior guard Corey Seng continued his stellar 2021-22 season with six points, six assists and six rebounds in 28 minutes while finishing a team-best plus-12 in the box score.

Redshirt junior forward Brendan La Rose added five points and three rebounds in his second start of the season, and senior guard Will Wittman added two points and four rebounds in nine minutes in what was his first game action since Dec. 17 due to a lower body injury.

"I really felt, top to bottom, this was a really good team win," Pietrack said. "Kot had a poor first half, but had a really good second half. JacQuess was really big and made two free-throws down the stretch. Garbrah was great early, La Rose defensively, then Seng doing what Seng does, which we've come to really appreciate. Will Wittman, he's obviously not 100 percent yet, but to get him back was an emotional lift. He's only going to keep getting better now as his ankle heals."

As a team, Fort Lewis finished at a 56% clip from the field on Friday (32-of-57), including a sizzling 70% (21-of-30) in the second half and only committed 10 turnovers. The Skyhawks currently lead the RMAC in fewest turnovers per game at 10.9 per contest.

CSU Pueblo finished the evening 44% from the floor (26-of-59) and just 5-of-19 from 3-point range (26%).

The Skyhawks will now look to complete a weekend sweep when they welcome rival Adams State University to town on Saturday for a 7 p.m. tip-off. Fort Lewis is 38-15 all-time against the Grizzlies in Durango, but fell by a 74-69 final to Adams State inside Whalen Gymnasium last February.

"(Friday) was a good team win for us, but we know we have to focus with a rivalry game tomorrow," Pietrack said. "Adams State beat us here last year and got us pretty good, so we'll be excited for that game and all the challenges they bring."
 
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