Log In


Reset Password
Sports Youth Sports Professional Sports More Sports College Sports High School Sports

Battle of the bigs

Herrera squares off with CMU’s Stephan

Two of the best big men in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference and beyond are set to square off in a big showdown Saturday.

When the Fort Lewis College men’s basketball team welcomes Colorado Mesa University to Whalen Gymnasium at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, the Mavericks will run onto the floor with the leading scorer in the conference, 6-foot-10 junior center Ryan Stephan.

He will square off with the third-leading scorer and leading rebounder FLC’s 6-foot-9 center Alex Herrera of Ignacio.

“It’s a terrific matchup. They’re both really good players with unique skills,” FLC head coach Bob Hofman said. “Stephan is a terrific shooter, and it will be a real challenge.”

Stephan, who along with Herrera and Metro State’s Nicholas Kay is among the league’s elite big men, enters the game averaging 24 points per game and 7.5 rebounds. Herrera is third in the league with 20.7 points per contest, and his 10.4 rebounds rank first in the RMAC by more than two per game. Herrera also leads the league in blocked shots with 37 in nine games.

But Saturday’s game isn’t all about the two big men. The teams are two of the best in all of Division II, with FLC (7-2, 2-1 RMAC) receiving five votes in the latest National Association of Basketball Coaches poll and Colorado Mesa (8-2, 3-1 RMAC) earning two votes.

Plus, it is one of the Skyhawks’ biggest regional rivals.

“In the last 15 years since I’ve been here, they’ve always been one of the teams in contention along with us in the old ‘Western Division.’ We still look at that because now there’s so many teams in the league,” Hofman said. “Those eight teams in the west are our natural rivals, and Mesa’s probably been our No. 1 rival the last 20 years.”

Colorado Mesa is 1-2 on the road this season, while the Skyhawks are 3-0 inside Whalen. The Mavericks own the second-best 3-point shooting average in the league at 40.1 percent, and they have the fourth-best scoring defense in the league, holding opponents to 66.6 points per game.

But FLC is the fourth-best scoring offense and is the best rebounding team in the league with 39 boards per game.

Rising to the call in conference play, FLC also has received strong efforts from guards Rasmus Bach, Cade Kloster, Will Morse and Jared Smith. And the Skyhawks are coming off their best defensive game of the year in an 87-73 win against Adams State last Saturday.

After playing the Mavericks, the Skyhawks will have a quick turnaround to play a rare 5 p.m. Sunday game against Western State (2-6, 1-3 RMAC).

The Mountaineers have shot only 38.1 percent from the field this year and 26.5 percent from 3-point distance. They’ve scored an average of 68.1 points per game while giving up 74.6.

Mason Biddle has led Western State with 17.8 points per game.

“They’re another regional rival and a disciplined team,” Hofman said.

Hofman doesn’t enjoy playing the Saturday-Sunday series the week before a holiday break, especially with it coming after finals week and a Saturday morning graduation. He hopes some day the RMAC decides to push the doubleheader the week before Christmas to after the holiday break.

“It’s the fifth or sixth year in a row they told us it wouldn’t happen, and obviously it happens again and again. It’s too bad for both teams,” Hofman said of the schedule. “It’s not the same atmosphere we generally have. It’s fair to both teams going it every other year, but it’s very poor managing of schedules in the league offices.”

jlivingston@durangoherald.com



Reader Comments