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Fort Lewis College Athletics

Scoreboard

JacQuess Hobbs 2.5
[Chris Neal/Shooter Imaging]
79
UC-Colo. Springs UCCS 15-7,10-6 RMAC
90
Winner Fort Lewis FLC 12-7,8-5 RMAC
UC-Colo. Springs UCCS
15-7,10-6 RMAC
79
Final
90
Fort Lewis FLC
12-7,8-5 RMAC
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
UC-Colo. Springs UCCS 32 47 79
Fort Lewis FLC 39 51 90

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

Skyhawks lead wire-to-wire in resounding home win over UCCS

DURANGO, Colo. — The Fort Lewis College men's basketball team put together one of its most complete performances of the season on Saturday, shaking off a Friday night loss with a resounding 90-79 victory over the University of Colorado-Colorado Springs inside Whalen Gymnasium.

"We've faced adversity throughout the year, but we've always answered the bell as far as coming back out and playing hard," said FLC head men's basketball coach, Bob Pietrack. "Last night, Highlands just won the game and there wasn't much to say about it. But tonight, we led the entire game and really just controlled it. It was a much better effort from us against a really good ball club. UCCS is definitely one of the better teams in our league."

Fort Lewis (12-7 overall, 8-5 RMAC) led by as many as 20 points and for 39:22 of game time on Saturday against the Mountain Lions (15-7 overall, 10-6 RMAC) in what was a Saturday night showdown between the top two scoring offenses in the RMAC.

However, it was defense that made all the difference Saturday as the Skyhawks limited the Mountain Lions to 41% shooting (25-of-61) and frustrating UCCS leading scorer, Alijah Comithier.

Comithier entered the evening third in the RMAC in scoring at a shade over 20 points per game, but was limited to 10 points on 1-of-8 shooting behind the defensive effort from FLC guard tandem of Corey Seng and Will Wittman.

"Corey really did a nice job on Comithier. He got some rebounds, but Seng was just battling his tail off and so was Will Wittman when he was in there," Pietrack said. "We did a good job on him and then we also held Mac Stodart to just one 3-pointer. He's a shooting big and I thought that was much improved from (Friday) night. To hold UCCS to 41% from the floor is a really good effort by us."

Sparked by its defensive effort, Fort Lewis then put the game to bed with an efficient offensive performance as the team shot a sizzling 57% (30-for-53) and had three players eclipse the 20-point mark.

FLC was led by sophomore guard Akuel Kot with a game-high 21 points on 8-of-12 shooting, while the senior duo of point guard JacQuess Hobbs and forward Riley Farris each poured in 20 points apiece.

Hobbs added to his big night with three rebounds, three assists and three steals on the defensive end of the floor.

"That's what you need, especially when your back is a little bit against the wall," Pietrack said of Hobbs' complete performance. "Any time you lose the first game of the weekend, your teams' backs are against the wall and you've got to fight. JacQuess brought the fight from the beginning of the day at shootaround and it propelled him to play really well. Then (Kot), we call him the young cooker, was dicing them up tonight."

Nine different players would score on the night for FLC, with redshirt junior Brenden Boatwright adding eight points and team-high five rebounds, while junior point guard Dunnell Stafford and Seng each chipped in six points to help pace the Skyhawks offense.

Fort Lewis will look to build off Saturday's performance as it embarks on a season long six-game road trip — which includes a pair of rescheduled games against Colorado Christian and MSU Denver — starting next Friday and Saturday with re-matches against Colorado School of Mines and Regis University.

"Our season will most likely be defined by this six-game road trip, but I thought it was important as the leader of the team to uphold and honor the schedule. That's something our Athletic Director, Brandon Leimbach, has communicated with me and I agree with his vision," Pietrack said. "We want to make sure we're playing all the games and we start with a big rivalry game against Mines, which I'm sure will be fun. Then a rematch with Regis, a day off, and then playing Colorado Christian in a building that we haven't had a lot of success. But we have a lot of faith in our team. We'll go on the road, scrap and fight. And when we get back (to Whalen on Feb. 24) we'll see where we're at."
 
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