Fort Lewis FLC 12-1,7-0 RMAC

Black Hills St. BHSU 6-7,4-3 RMAC

Fort Lewis FLC

12-1,7-0 RMAC

Final

Jan. 06, 2024

Black Hills St. BHSU

6-7,4-3 RMAC

Score By Periods
Team	1	2	F
Fort Lewis FLC	38	37	75
Black Hills St. BHSU	39	31	70

Summary
Box Score

Obi Agbim (5) racked up his Division II career-high 28 points on 50 percent shooting with three triples and a five free-throws.

Game Recap: Men's Basketball | 1/6/2024 9:15:00 PM | Hayden Mangan, Assistant Director of Athletic Communications

Agbim goes for 28 as No. 10/24 Skyhawks top Yellow Jackets 75-70 in RMAC classic

SPEARFISH, S.D. – Obi Agbim led all scorers on the night with a Division II career-high 28 points on 10-for-20 shooting while Brayden Carter provided a season-high 18 points and Malik Whitaker another 14 points to lift tenth-ranked Fort Lewis men's basketball (12-1, 7-0 RMAC) to a gritty 75-70 win over Black Hills State (6-7, 4-3 RMAC) in a Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference classic on the road Saturday night in front of a crowd of 1,002.

Fort Lewis has now won 12 consecutive games for the fourth time in program history.

In a rematch of last season's NCAA Tournament and South-Central Regional round of 32 matchup, fans got nothing less as both sides exchanged 18 lead changes while neither team led by any more than eight points, and Fort Lewis found the narrow advantage in shooting 45.8 percent (27-59) to the Yellow Jackets' 43.9 percent (25-57).

After taking the early lead with back-to-back treys, the Skyhawks found themselves playing at the Yellow Jackets' pace as Matthew Ragsdale and Deegan Williams dropped in a pair of three-pointers for an eight-point BHSU advantage at the six-minute mark in the opening half.

Facing a one-point deficit out of the half, Fort Lewis remained at the mercy of the Yellow Jackets offense before Whitaker rifled off a trey to retake the lead with seven minutes left in the game. Both sides began to exchange blows in a one-possession contest before a thunderous dunk from Carter began to shift the momentum.

Black Hills State's Hoku Fisher buried a cold-blooded three-pointer with six seconds to pull within three, but a pair of free throws from Agbim with four seconds left put the game out of reach and sealed the Skyhawks' 12^th consecutive win.

In addition to shooting, FLC held the narrow edge in rebounds 36-28, turnovers 13-10, and offensive rebounds 11-5. Four players for BHSU finished in double figures: Ragsdale (17), Caelin Hearne (16), Williams (10), and Fisher (10).

Quotable
"Obi was simply sensational tonight, nothing else left to say. Black Hills State is an excellent team and tonight was a heavy-weight fight across the floor. This completes a massive road trip for us, and we have to recover and be prepared to do it again next week. I'm extremely proud of our team for the grit and resiliency they showed to weather every punch and keep fighting regardless of what was in front of them." – Head coach Bob Pietrack

Notables
-Obi Agbim's 28 points are the most in his career as a Skyhawk.
-Black Hills State's 13 three-pointers are the most by an opponent this season while the Yellow Jackets' 13 turnovers are the third-fewest forced by the Skyhawks this season.
-Fort Lewis has now won 12 consecutive games for the fourth time in program history and the first since 2016-17 (Nov. 12-Dec. 30).
-The Skyhawks' bench has outscored its opponent in every game this season.

Looking Ahead
Fort Lewis now turns its eyes forward toward next week for a pair of road contests at The University of Colorado Colorado Springs (6-8, 2-6 RMAC) and Regis (7-6, 4-3 RMAC) on Friday and Saturday, Jan. 12-13.

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