Deadly 3-point shooting by Western State killed Fort Lewis College’s chance of hosting a game in the first round of the conference tournament.
The Western State Colorado University Mountaineers sank 15-of-33 3-point attempts to defeat the FLC Skyhawks 89-85 in Gunnison on Friday night. It was a tough loss for FLC, who needed two wins this weekend and some help to get back into the top four of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference standings.
“Extremely disappointing,” FLC head coach Bob Hofman said. “We had too many guys miss too many shots. Western got a on a roll and made 15 3s. The played the game of their lives.
“It was meaningful to (Western State) to beat us, and they had a Super Bowl celebration. Another learning lesson for us, I guess.”
Alex Herrera had a career night for the Skyhawks (19-8, 14-7 RMAC) with a new-career high 34 points and 16 rebounds, which was three shy of matching another career high. It came in vain, however, as the senior center from Ignacio was solely focused on a win.
“Alex was his normal dominant self. We didn’t give him any help,” Hofman said.
The loss was especially hard for FLC to swallow, as Colorado Mesa and CSU-Pueblo, the two teams FLC needed to leapfrog to earn a home game, also lost. But, with only one game left in the regular season, FLC won’t be able to climb past CSU-Pueblo for the fourth seed.
Rasmus Bach scored 16 points, Jared Smith added 12 and Lucas Archuleta returned from illness to score 10 points off the bench in the loss for FLC.
“I thought Lucas played well coming off the bench and coming off having mono,” Hofman said. “We just had guys miss a lot of shots. Cade Kloster was 0-of-6 from 3. We needed to get help from him.”
Devin Kastrup scored a team-high 27 points for Western State (5-20, 4-17 RMAC), on an 8-of-16 shooting night.
Of the Mountaineers’ 89 points, 69 were scored from behind the 3-point line or from the free-throw line. Every time FLC clawed back to within three points of the Mountaineers in the second half, another 3 would fall.
“Their inside guy played well, and they had good ball movement that made some good looks,” Hofman said. “They made a lot of tough shots, too. Letting them go to the free-throw line 33 times, that wasn’t good.”
No. 11 Colorado Mines (22-3, 18-3 RMAC) clinched at least a share of the regular season RMAC title Friday night with a 87-77 win against Colorado Christian. No. 14 Metro State (23-4, 18-3 RMAC) has a chance to earn a share of the title if they beat No. 18 UC-Colorado Springs (23-4, 17-4 RMAC) on Saturday.
FLC will look to finish the season on a high note against rival Colorado Mesa. A win would put the Skyhawks in front of the Mavericks as far as seeding in the RMAC Shootout. The Mavericks lost 82-66 at home to Adams State on Friday.
“Right now we are so stunned. We have to regroup as a team and play our game,” Hofman said. “We’re not thinking any further ahead than playing our best against Mesa.”
jlivingston@durangoherald.com
