Skip To Main Content
Skip To Main Content

Fort Lewis College Athletics

Scoreboard

Brayden Carter vs. Chadron State - Jan. 19, 2024
JoJo Lutz, Fort Lewis Athletic Communications
Brayden Carter (32) is averaging 10.8 points, 5.8 rebounds, and 1.1 blocks per game.

No. 4 Skyhawks welcome No. 10 Orediggers, Roadrunners for pivotal conference matchups

2/1/2024 11:00:00 AM

By: Hayden Mangan, Assistant Director of Athletic Communications
DURANGO, Colo. – Just one week after its first top 10 game of the season, the fourth-ranked Skyhawks men's basketball team (17-2, 12-1 RMAC) is back at home for another top 10 matchup, this time from the comforts of Whalen Gymnasium as tenth-ranked Colorado School of Mines (18-3, 12-1 RMAC) and Metropolitan State University of Denver (12-6, 6-6) invade for a pair of critical RMAC contests to open the back half of the conference schedule.
 
Game Information
Friday, Feb. 2 | 7:00 p.m.
vs. No. 10 Mines
Whalen Gymnasium | Durango, Colo.
Watch | Live Stats | Tickets 
FLC Game Notes 
*Due to technical issues, both games will be streamed to the FLC Athletics YouTube page.

Saturday, Feb. 3 | 6:00 p.m.
vs. MSU Denver
Whalen Gymnasium | Durango, Colo.
Watch | Live Stats | Tickets
FLC Game Notes 
*Due to technical issues, both games will be streamed to the FLC Athletics YouTube page.

White Out and 9R Night
Friday night has been tabbed as the Skyhawks' annual whiteout game with free t-shirts available for the first 200 students to the doubleheader. On Saturday, Fort Lewis is offering free pizza and a drink to the first 400 students to arrive for the doubleheader. Saturday is also 9R night featuring free admission to all students, staff, and faculty who present a 9R identification card at the ticket office. Saturday's doubleheader will also feature free poster and face-painting stations for fans to enjoy and enhance the game-day environment.
 
Last Time Out
Up against its longest road trip of the season, FLC did not falter as it took down then-seventh-ranked Colorado Mesa (15-3, 11-1 RMAC) 87-79 on the Mavericks home floor in front of a crowd of 2,174: the largest the Skyhawks have faced on the road by over 1,131. Malik Whitaker guided Fort Lewis' high-octane offense with a 17-point, six-rebound outing on the back of a career-high five made three-pointers.
 
 On Saturday, the Skyhawks went into Salt Lake City, Utah, and handed Westminster (5-14, 1-12 RMAC) its largest home loss of the season, 85-66. Junior Garbrah led Fort Lewis with 20 points on 8-of-14 shooting including a 4-8 performance from deep.

Scouting the No. 10/19 Orediggers
Mines enters Friday's Top-10 matchup as one of the hottest in the country among all levels of NCAA basketball. The Orediggers have won 14 straight – only three teams across the DI, DII, and DIII landscape have won more – after downing MSU Denver 67-65 and Western Colorado (6-12, 3-9 RMAC) 77-72.
 
Majok Deng, recently named the week 11 RMAC Offensive Player of the Week, guides the Orediggers averaging 15.6 points and 3.8 rebounds per game while shooting at clips of 41.1 percent, 42.4 percent, and 77.8 percent. Graduate student Sam Beskind leads Mines and the league with 4.8 assists per game while also supplying 8.7 points and 6.5 boards per contest.
 
CSM boasts the RMAC's top-rated defense that holds opponents to 67.0 points and 41.0 percent shooting from the field through 21 games this season. In addition, the Orediggers pull down the second-most rebounds per contest (39.0), block the second-most shots per game (3.57), and lead the league in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.39).
 
Scouting the Roadrunners
MSU Denver, despite its six conference losses, poses one of the biggest threats in the conference. The Roadrunners opened the season a red-hot 7-0 including a buzzer-beating win on the road at current first-ranked West Texas A&M (18-1, 12-0 LSC) on the Buffaloes home floor.
 
The Roadrunners enter the weekend hot after a dominating 67-38 win over Western Colorado following a narrow loss on the road at Mines. MSUD owns the sixth-highest offense (76.9 ppg) and third-best scoring defense (70.2 ppg) in the RMAC.
 
Brayden Maldonado, a six-foot sophomore guard who scored 15 points against WCU, spearheads the MSU Denver offense averaging 16.8 points alongside 2.8 assists and 1.9 steals per game. Caleb McGill (14.6) and Mario Lacy Jr. (10.9) round out the Roadrunners to average double-figure scoring.
 
Looking Ahead
Fort Lewis is slated for a Friday/Tuesday split next week as the Skyhawks travel for rematches at CSU Pueblo (9-10, 5-8 RMAC) on Friday, Feb. 9, at 7:30 p.m. inside Massari Arena and Adams State (6-12, 4-8 RMAC) on Tuesday, Feb. 13, at 7:30 p.m. in Plachy Hall.
 
Print Friendly Version