Fort Lewis FLC 18-7,14-5 RMAC

MSU Denver MSUD 16-10,10-10 RMAC

Fort Lewis FLC

18-7,14-5 RMAC

Final

Feb. 21, 2022

MSU Denver MSUD

16-10,10-10 RMAC

Score By Periods
Team	1	2	F
Fort Lewis FLC	34	46	80
MSU Denver MSUD	36	21	57

Summary
Box Score

Hayden Raymond, High Altitude Productions

Game Recap: Men's Basketball | 2/21/2022 6:14:00 PM | Angela Roberts, Athletic Communications Assistant

Skyhawks Dominate Roadrunners in 80-57 Fashion, Earn Seventh-Straight Win Behind Balanced Attack

DENVER, Colo. – Playing its third road game in four days, the Fort Lewis College men's basketball team showed no signs of fatigue, running away with a huge 80-57 win over MSU Denver to wrap up the six-game road stand. The win was the team's seventh in a row and eighth-straight road win—extending on a program-record—to improve the Skyhawks' overall record to 18-7 on the year and 14-5 in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference.

"First and foremost, we had a really good scout by assistant coach Tyler Danielson that we were really locked in on," said head coach Bob Pietrack. "We executed defensively today, even in the first half when we were slow offensively, our defense allowed us to stay in the game. Once we got our offense going, our defense stayed strong and we were able to gap the game."

Fort Lewis shot 54.5 percent (31-of-57) from the field while holding MSU Denver to its third-lowest field goal percentage of the season at 35.3 percent (24-of-68). The Skyhawks shot 47.4 percent (9-of-19) from three compared to 23.5 percent (4-of-17) for the Roadrunners—well below their season average of 35.7 percent. For a team that typically dominates the rebound game, the Roadrunners were outmatched in the contest with the Skyhawks holding a 40-33 edge on the night.

Sophomore Akuel Kot led the scoring charge with 14 points to go along with seven rebounds. Redshirt senior Riley Farris and senior Will Wittman followed with 12 and 11 points, respectively. Rounding out the double-digit scorers was junior Brenden Boatwright at 10 points. Fort Lewis also benefited from three players with eight points apiece. Farris was the team's leading rebounder with eight.

"We have so many good offensive players, and our offensive system is designed for us to have the kind of balance we had tonight," noted Pietrack. "The team is really playing together, and they have the mentality that it's all about the team and playing together which is leading to the success we are having."

The Skyhawks benefited from a pair of free throws from Kot to see the score at 8-4 early, but the Roadrunners dropped in a layup to keep it a one-possession game. Junior Dunnell Stafford would give Fort Lewis another sizable lead, this time with a jumper to bring it to 14-8 with 14:32 to go. MSU Denver made another comeback effort, taking advantage of deep threes and Skyhawk turnovers to go ahead 20-17 as the clock dipped under ten minutes. The Roadrunner defense held the Skyhawks scoreless over the following six minutes, but back-to-back scores saw Fort Lewis back on top 21-20.

Whereas defense highlighted the opening minutes, offense shined toward the end of the half. MSU Denver got ahead again, this time at 25-21, but a Kot three pulled the blue and gold back within one point. Shots continued to fall for both sides, including a three from Wittman to hold it at a one-point game. Four points for the Skyhawks had the team knocking on the door, but MSU Denver's improvement from three allowed for the deficit to sit at 34-31 with under one minute on the clock. Senior Corey Seng had something to say about the onslaught of threes, knocking one down at the buzzer to see the Skyhawks down 36-34 heading into the break.

Fort Lewis surged back to tie the game courtesy of back-to-back free throw makes from Boatwright with 17:45 remaining. Defense reemerged for Fort Lewis in the following possessions with a steal from Farris leading to a Hobbs layup for a 46-42 lead. The Roadrunners were held scoreless for another two minutes, extending the Fort Lewis lead to 52-42 with 14:29 to go. Wittman started to heat up, first with an alley-oop dunk, then with a quick three to build the lead to a commanding 60-42 margin with eleven minutes to go. The MSU Denver scoreless streak stretch extended to nearly 10 minutes before the home team could muster a jumper to see the Skyhawks lead at 69-44.

MSU Denver rallied for scores on back-to-back possessions to see the Fort Lewis advantage at 72-49 heading into a break with 4:25 to go. Junior Joey Naccarato got the Skyhawks to the 80-point clip with a jumper, extending the lead to 27 points with 1:33 to play. The Roadrunners found a pair of baskets over the next minute, but the lead would be too much to overcome with Fort Lewis running away with an 80-57 final score.

"We are playing our best basketball right now, and that's exactly what you want. We have our work cut out for us with the teams we have coming to Whalen Gymnasium this week, and all of our focus will be going into defending our home court," ended Pietrack.

Fort Lewis (18-7, 14-5 RMAC) will play host to Westminster College this Thursday for a 7:30 p.m. start in the team's first home game since February 5^th. The Skyhawks topped Westminster by a score of 67-59 when the teams met on January 29^th. The game will be Faculty and Staff Appreciation Night where student-athletes will honor their favorite member of the Fort Lewis College family.

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