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Morse magnificent vs. Mavericks

Sophomore scores 23, lifts FLC men to 5th in RMAC

Alex Herrera did everything to carry his team in the first half.

So when he went cold from the field in the second half, one of the smallest players on the team helped lift up the 6-foot-9 center from Ignacio.

Will Morse, a sophomore guard, made 7-of-9 3-point attempts to lift the Fort Lewis College men’s basketball team to a huge 90-76 win against the Colorado Mesa Mavericks. It was a career-high 23 points for Morse and helped lift the Skyhawks to the No. 5 seed in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Shootout next week.

“It’s moments like this that Will can build from and grow confidence from,” FLC associate head coach Bob Pietrack said. “(Herrera) will be the first to tell you how happy he is other guys stepped up and made big shots.”

The win gave FLC its 20th of the season – its 20-8 overall and 15-7 in the RMAC. The win also gave FLC the fifth-place tiebreaker ahead of the Mavericks (19-9, 14-8 RMAC).

FLC will hit the road to face No. 4 CSU-Pueblo in the first round of the conference tournament Tuesday.

Herrera didn’t score a point in the second half for FLC but scored 19 in the first half to help keep the Skyhawks ahead 42-41 at the break. He battled through quadruple teams and kicked the ball outside to shooters, who kept them out front in the second half. The 15-point outburst in the second half by Morse sent the Skyhawks from a 54-53 lead with 12 minutes, 46 seconds to go to a 74-64 advantage with 3:25 remaining.

“It’s pick your poison. They put three and four guys on (Herrera) and the rest of the guys stepped up and hit big 3s,” Pietrack said.

Herrera recorded his 22nd double-double of the season with 11 rebounds to go with his 19 points.

FLC received big contributions all over the floor, unlike it did Friday night in a stunning loss at Western State. The Mountaineers sank 15 3s against FLC on Friday in a loss that kept the Skyhawks out of the No. 4 seed and a Tuesday home game.

Cade Kloster finished with 14 points and five assists, Rasmus Bach added 12 points and four rebounds, and Jared Smith had eight points and nine rebounds. Lucas Archuleta also added six points on two big 3s off the bench.

“It’s amazing how sports work. One night you play poorly and don’t shoot the ball well, and the next night you do,” Pietrack said. “You try to do some things consistently enough so that it’s not a roller coaster, but, man, this was a nice bounce-back win for the program. Playing our arch-rival on the road after a loss like we had (Friday night), that’s big.”

The Mavericks were led by their superstar big man Ryan Stephan, who had a game-high 25 points and a team-high nine rebounds. Julian Vasquez added 18 points and seven rebounds. Michael Melilo finished with 13 points for the Mavericks.

FLC went 23-of-27 from the free-throw line and held Colorado Mesa to 8-of-10, a big improvement from when FLC sent Western State to the foul line more than 30 times Friday.

The Skyhawks also won the rebounding battle 46-34 and turned it over only eight times to 11 for the Mavericks.

Earlier Saturday night, No. 14 Metro State pulled off a buzzer-beating home win against No. 18 UC-Colorado Springs to grab a share of the RMAC regular season championship along with No. 11 Colorado Mines. Metro State won the tiebreaker to earn the No. 1 seed in the RMAC Shootout, and the Roadrunners will host the tournament. They’ll host No. 8 Colorado Christian on Tuesday, while Colorado Mines will host Colorado Mesa. UC-Colorado Springs will play host to Adams State on Tuesday. The Grizzlies earned the sixth seed with a late season push and a weekend sweep of Colorado Mesa and Western State.

The Skyhawks are disappointed not to have earned a home game Tuesday, but they feel confident going to CSU-Pueblo, where they won 76-70 on Dec. 6. However, CSU-Pueblo has won nine of its last 10 games, including 83-59 in Durango on Feb. 13.

“Another 20-win season for us, and when you’re playing in the best league in all of Division II basketball and win 20 games, that is something to not take for granted,” Pietrack said. “At this point, all the matchups are very difficult going forward. We’re excited to be in the tournament and to go play hard.”

jlivingston@durangoherald.com



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