DENVER, Colo. – Akuel Kot scored 27 points as he made back-to-back free throws with 1.5 seconds and the game on the line securing both the lead and win as the No. 17/RV Fort Lewis College men's basketball team (18-2, 12-2 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference) narrowly escaped Metropolitan State University of Denver (8-12, 5-9 RMAC) 77-76 in a Saturday night thriller.
"I have to credit (MSU Denver), we were out-played and out-coached tonight," Fort Lewis coach Bob Pietrack stated. "College basketball is a weird thing, sometimes lady luck shows up, and tonight we stole one. (Mays) hitting those three shots down the stretch while also grabbing the steal and (Kot) getting those free throws, we really showed our resiliency tonight. The way we played on the road across the entire weekend was one of the best I've ever seen."
While the Skyhawks entered tonight's game as the seventeenth-ranked team in the country and hot off of a top-five upset on the road, the Roadrunners were prepared for the challenge. Kot took a step-back three-pointer for the 9-6 advantage early on, but MSU Denver's Caleb McGill buried a trey of his own to recapture the lead 17-16.
As the neck-and-neck offensive parry continued, Ra'Shjon Martinez came off the bench and hit a pull-up trey from the corner to put Fort Lewis back in front 35-29. The Roadrunners then answered with a seven-point run capped off with a pair of free throws from Brayden Maldonado to close out the half and head into the locker room with a 36-35 lead.
Out of the half, the chess match continued as neither side would concede. Fort Lewis found a series of key defensive stops allowing Obi Agbim to lay one in down the lane giving the Skyhawks a slim 52-46 lead. Momentum swung in favor of MSU Denver as Auraria Event Center erupted when McGill found an open lane slam for the 74-66 Roadrunner lead.
As time dwindled into the final minute JaQuaylon Mays put the Skyhawks in a position to win it. The senior from Fort Smith, Arkansas, hit three-straight threes including a pair of heat-checks to pull Fort Lewis within one, and with 1.5 seconds on the clock, Kot was fouled in the lane granting a pair of free throws that would seal the Skyhawks victory.
"In Kot we trust" Pietrack said.
Mays finished as the only other Skyhawk with double-digit points tonight adding 19 on 7-14 shooting from the floor and 4-7 from beyond the arc while supplying an additional three rebounds, three steals, and one assist. Fort Lewis found the slightest edge tonight forcing 13 turnovers to its own 10.
NOTABLES
-With his 27 points tonight, Akuel Kot moves into a tie with Max Proctor (1967-71) for eighth in all-time career points for Fort Lewis with 1,409.
-Brendan La Rose matched his career high tonight with four assists (Park [Arizona] Nov. 30, 2019).
-For the second-straight game both Fort Lewis (28-54) and its opponent (25-48) shot above 50.0 percent from the field and 30.0 percent from the three-point line.
-Tonight was just the third time this season only two Skyhawks finished in double-figure scoring.
-The Skyhawks are now 3-0 this season when games are decided by five points or fewer.
-Fort Lewis has now won three-straight games against MSU Denver and two-straight in Auraria Event Center.
LOOKING AHEAD
The Skyhawks will get some well-deserved rest next week with just one matchup against Colorado State University-Pueblo. The Thunderwolves will invade Whalen Gymnasium on Friday, Feb. 3 with a 7:30 p.m. tip-off.
