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Fort Lewis College Athletics

Scoreboard

Akuel Kot 1.22
Angela Roberts, FLC Athletic Communications
90
Winner Adams St. ASC 9-8,5-6 RMAC
89
Fort Lewis FLC 9-6,5-4 RMAC
Winner
Adams St. ASC
9-8,5-6 RMAC
90
Final
89
Fort Lewis FLC
9-6,5-4 RMAC
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 OT 1 F
Adams St. ASC 42 37 11 90
Fort Lewis FLC 36 43 10 89

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

Akuel Kot pours in career-high 29 points, but Skyhawks edged by rival Grizzlies in overtime

DURANGO, Colo. — Saturday's rivalry game between the Fort Lewis College men's basketball team and Adams State University lived up to the billing. Unfortunately, after a late surge to force overtime, the Skyhawks were unable to complete their weekend sweep, falling by a 90-89 final to the visiting Grizzlies.

"Just credit to Adams State. They played really hard, made a lot of big plays and shot the ball well tonight," said FLC head men's basketball coach, Bob Pietrack. "We, obviously, did not play our best game, but we have a lot of basketball left this season. This is a tough one to swallow, but we'll get back at it Monday and get ready for a tough road trip."

Down 11 with 4:36 remaining in the second half, Fort Lewis (9-6 overall, 5-4 RMAC) came roaring back with a 16-5 run; capped by three clutch free-throws from sophomore guard Akuel Kot with 0.8 seconds remaining to tie the score at 79-79.

The free throws from Kot were part of a career night for Kot as he poured in 29 points on 8-of-15 shooting, including 5-of-9 from 3-point range, and adding three steals on the defensive end. Kot scored 24 of his career-high 29 points in the second half and overtime period.

"Akuel is really talented, offensively, and he kept us in it there. Those are big free-throws that he made," Pietrack said. "Unfortunately, we just didn't get enough stops and didn't deserve to win the game with how we played, defensively."

After taking an early 81-79 lead in overtime, a pivotal play changed momentum with 4:22 remaining. What was original ruled a charge was changed by officials to a blocking foul on senior guard Will Wittman. ASU guard Malik Moore cashed in a 3-point play opportunity, giving the Grizzlies the lead back at 82-81.

"We'll have to watch the film, but (the play) obviously changed the momentum of the game," Pietrack said. "That's life, that's the breaks, but Adams State made more plays than us."

Fort Lewis held its last lead at 88-87 on a 3-pointer from senior forward Riley Farris, who completed his third double-double of the season with 18 points and season-high 12 rebounds.

Adams State took the lead back at 90-89 with 48 seconds remaining on a free-throw from Nykolas Lange and were able to hold on as Fort Lewis committed a turnover and missed a potential go-ahead jumper with five seconds remaining on its ensuing two possessions.

As a team, the Skyhawks shot 44.3% from the floor (31-of-70) and just 7-of-27 (26%) from 3-point range. FLC also had an uncharacteristic night taking care of the basketball, finishing the evening with 20 turnovers after entering the ballgame leading all RMAC teams in fewest turnovers (10.9) per game.

Redshirt junior forward Brenden Boatwright finished with nine points and four rebounds in limited minutes due to foul trouble, while sophomore guard Junior Garbrah and junior point guard Dunnell Stafford each added eight points to help pace the Skyhawks' offense.

Wittman, in his second game back from injury, chipped in six points and nine rebounds in his 21 minutes.

Fort Lewis will now turn its attention toward next weekend's road trip against Colorado Mesa (Jan. 28) and Westminster College (Jan. 29). With 12 games remaining in the regular season, Pietrack said the Skyhawks remain focus on the task at hand as the push for the playoffs begins in the spring semester.

"We're going to need everybody because every one of these games are going to be difficult. As we move forward, there are going to be more games like (Saturday) and we just have to find a way to be on the right side of them," Pietrack said. "There's certainly no quit in our team, no quit in our staff. We just have to keep working at it and hoping we can find ways to put better weekends together."
 
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