Kaitlyn Silva

Nathan Penney (3) rises up for a three-pointer against the Hardrockers in Whalen Gymnasium (Jan. 16, 2025).

Men’s basketball back on the road for top 25 showdowns at No. 12/13 Mines, No. 23/25 MSU Denver

1/29/2025 11:00:00 AM

DURANGO, Colo. – Fort Lewis (13-6, 7-3 RMAC) will carry its four-game win streak on the road this week as the Skyhawks look to stay hot and upset No. 12/13 Colorado School of Mines (15-3, 9-1 RMAC) and No. 23/25 MSU Denver (14-4, 8-2 RMAC) in a pair of season-defining Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference games this Thursday and Friday.

Skyhawks Basketball Get Together
Fort Lewis College Athletics, in partnership with the FLC Alumni Association, will host a Skyhawks Basketball Get Together at Infinitus Pie inside the Tivoli Student Union in Denver, Colorado, on Saturday, Feb. 1. Doors open at 1 p.m. and fans are encouraged to pre-register for the event HERE.

Leading the League
On Monday, fifth-year guard Tru Allen was named the RMAC Week 11 Defensive Player of the Week, marking the fourth defensive weekly honor and sixth overall for the Skyhawks this season; both marks lead the RMAC. Redshirt freshman Stewart Erhart has twice been named Defensive Player of the Week alongside senior forward Chuol Deng, while senior guard Biko Johnson has twice been named the conference's Offensive Player of the Week.

Johnson leads the league in scoring, averaging 17.7 points per game, including a more impressive 18.6 points against conference opponents. Deng and Allen also rank sixth and 21^st in conference scoring with another 16.1 points and 13.7 points per game, respectively. In addition, the trio of Allen, Erhart, and Johnson rank first through third in steals per game against league opponents with 2.4, 2.3, and 2.1 steals per game, respectively.

Hold On Tight
As a unit, Fort Lewis owns the sixth-best defense in conference play, holding opponents to 73.8 points per game on 46.4 percent shooting from the field. The Skyhawks are also tied for third in combined rebounds at 34.0, trailing the league leader by just 1.8 rebounds per game.

The Skyhawks' biggest strength? Turnovers. Fort Lewis is tied for the 2^nd-most steals (12.3), ranks 3^rd in turnovers forced (20.17), and boasts the 7^th-best turnover margin (+7.2) across all of NCAA Division II. In RMAC play alone, the Skyhawks are forcing 20.3 turnovers and making 12.6 steals per contest, marks that lead to a conference-leading +8.8 turnover margin, a +6.3 gap over Colorado Mesa (11-7, 5-5 RMAC) who ranks second with a +2.5-turnover margin.

Scouting the Orediggers
Colorado School of Mines, who returned much of last season's NCAA South Central Regional roster, will have a chip on its shoulder at home after suffering its first conference loss of the season, 94-91, at the hands of Regis (10-8, 8-2 RMAC) last Saturday. Heading into that game, Mines was ranked 7^th on the National Association of Basketball Coaches Top 25 Poll, with its only other losses coming against No. 3/2 West Liberty (15-3, 9-2 MEC), 92-87 on Dec. 19, and against (RV) Lubbock Christian (14-6, 9-2 LSC), 89-78 in its season opener at home on Nov. 8.

The Orediggers boast the second-highest offense (82.5 pts/game) and third-best defense (70.3 pts/game) against RMAC foes. Graduate student Majok Deng leads the roster, averaging 15.9 points on 45.7 percent shooting. Deng is primarily aided by Riley Schroeder and Markus Pastorcic-Straun, who supply 11.8 and 11.0 points per game, respectively, as the only others to average double figures.

A Rematch with the Roadrunners
Fort Lewis will head into the Auraria Events Center looking to avenge a 65-48 loss to MSU Denver back in Durango, Colo., on Dec. 5. The Skyhawks had its coldest game of the season against MSUD, shooting 28.6 percent from the field despite forcing 18 turnovers and holding the Roadrunners to 65 points, 14 points below its season average.

Similar to CSM, MSU Denver will look to make a statement this week after dropping both games last week to Regis and Mines by scores of 78-76 and 70-66, respectively. Former Skyhawk Brayden Carter and Caleb McGill, who had just 12 and 10 points each against FLC, lead the MSUD offense, averaging 15.3 and 14.7 points per game, respectively. Behind the duo stands Quave Propst-Allison, Jamil Safieddine, and Logan Threatt, who add another 9.9, 9.9, and 9.3 points per game as well.

Up Next
It will be a short week of rest for Fort Lewis, with the Skyhawks set to host Route 160 rival Adams State (8-10, 3-7 RMAC) next Tuesday, Feb. 4, for its annual Pink Game presented by CommonSpirit and Alpine Bank at 7:30 p.m. in Whalen Gymnasium.

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