Fort Lewis College Athletics

Dunnell "Scottie" Stafford (4) pictured, FLC men's basketball advances in the latest NABC/D2CSC Top 25 Polls.

Men's Basketball 2/21/2023 5:22:00 PM Hayden Mangan, Athletic Communications Assistant

Men’s basketball jumps in latest national polls

DURANGO, Colo. – After a historic week that saw the Skyhawks down top-ranked Black Hills State University back-to-back and finish the season 10-1 on the road, the Fort Lewis College men's basketball team has jumped to No. 5/6 in the latest National Association of Basketball Coaches and Division II College Sports Communicators Media Top 25 Polls.

Fort Lewis currently stands alone on top of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference boasting a 24-2 overall record and an 18-2 conference mark. Last week, the Skyhawks downed Black Hills State (23-3, 17-3 RMAC) both at home and on the road 88-78 and 76-68 in back-to-back contests. Fort Lewis then went next door to Rapid City, South Dakota, to defeat South Dakota Mines (9-17, 8-12 RMAC) by a score of 80-69.

The Skyhawks have notched just the 7^th season in the program history with 24 wins or more and set the program record for most road wins in a single season winning 10 out of 11 total road games.

Fort Lewis has climbed 53 points in the latest NABC Poll, jumping to fifth: the first ranking in the top five since the 2015-16 season. On the D2CSC Poll, the Skyhawks grabbed another 36 points to climb into sixth. Fort Lewis now leads all RMAC schools in each of the two polls.

Black Hills State falls to 10^th on the NABC and ninth on the D2CSC Polls following last week's losses to FLC. Colorado Mesa University (22-4, 17-3 RMAC) advances to 14^th on the NABC and 16^th on the D2CSC Polls. Colorado School of Mines (22-4, 16-4 RMAC) is back on the steady climb, trailing Mesa at 15^th on the NABC and 24^th on the D2CSC Polls.

Fort Lewis wraps up its regular season this week with home contests against Metropolitan State University of Denver (11-15, 8-12 RMAC) and 15^th-ranked Mines. On Friday, the Skyhawks will take on the Roadrunners at 7:00 p.m. Saturday will feature Senior Day and Beach Out Night and fans are encouraged to wear their best beach-themed shirts. Saturday's game against Mines is slated for 7:30 p.m. with senior celebrations to precede warmups.

Print Friendly Version