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Roadrunners race around Skyhawks

FLC men smashed in big road game

The Fort Lewis College men’s basketball team always knows to expect a battle at No. 17 Metro State. They didn’t expect what happened in the first half Saturday.

The Roadrunners ran wild against the Skyhawks, with Mitch McCarron scoring 17 of his game-high 31 points in the first half to help Metro State to a 45-16 lead at the break.

Metro State continued to run away with the game in the second half, finishing with an 87-51 home win at the Auraria Events center in Denver.

It was a big loss for the Skyhawks (13-4, 8-3 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference), who had won six in a row and were tied in the conference standings with the Roadrunners (14-3, 9-2 RMAC) entering the game.

“We played very poorly in the first half, and they played great,” FLC head coach Bob Hofman said. “McCarron was sensational. I can’t say enough about the way he played.”

The first half was as ugly as it could be for the Skyhawks (13-4, 8-3 RMAC). FLC went 6-of-22 from the field (27.3 percent) and 0-of-7 from behind the 3-point line. FLC was outrebounded 24-13 and made only 4-of-9 free throws. Eight turnovers by the Skyhawks also led to 18 Roadrunner points in the opening 20 minutes.

“We missed some shots, they made some shots. Sometimes you really feed off your offense. When you make shots, you play better defense,” Hofman said.

The Roadrunners continued to pour it on in the second half. They finished the game shooting 47.5 percent from the field to 30.2 for FLC, the Skyhawks’ worst shooting night of the season.

Even with McCarron scoring 31 points, Hofman was proud of the effort of redshirt junior guard Jared Smith, the team’s best perimeter defender who was matched up on the Roadrunners’ star.

“I can’t say enough about the way he played for us. He played hard, stayed positive and really represented us well,” Hofman said of Smith.

Nicholas Kay, who was matched up on FLC star senior center Alex Herrera all night, finished with 20 points and 13 rebounds. Metro State held Herrera to 17 points and six rebounds. Herrera entered the game fresh off a 30-point game Friday at Regis, and he had averaged more than 22 points and 11 rebounds per game entering the contest.

“It became uneventful because the game got out of hand so fast,” Hofman said of the Herrera-Kay matchup. “They were very physcial, as we knew they would be against Alex, but he still competed the whole game.”

Herrera was the only Skyhawk in double figures. Lucas Archuleta had nine points off the bench, and Rasmus Bach had eight despite battling foul trouble, including a technical foul in the first half.

When the game was over, FLC had been outrebounded 47-29, including 17 Metro State offensive rebounds leading to 25 second-chance points.

FLC will return home after the road-trip split to face Colorado Christian on Friday and No. 5 and one-loss Colorado Mines (14-1, 10-1 RMAC). The Orediggers suffered their first loss of the season Saturday night at home to CSU-Pueblo (11-6, 7-4 RMAC).

“Sometimes when you get beat like that – an NBA beatdown – you go on to the next game. But I think this was more important than that,” Hofman said when asked if the team would forget about the loss and move on to next week’s games. “I think this game will determine what Fort Lewis basketball is about and has been for the last 15 years. It starts with practice and the head coach.

“I obviously didn’t have them as prepared as they need to be. When you’re playing a game, tied with your opponent near the top of the standings, and the other teams comes out with so much better effort, you gotta look right at the head coach.”

jlivingston@durangoherald.com



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