After beating Colorado Christian by 36 on the road in January, the Fort Lewis College men’s basketball team was in a battle with the Cougars at home on senior day on Saturday.
The Skyhawks, led by senior day honorees Tru Allen and Biko Johnson, pulled away late in the second half to win 77-68.
FLC struggled to defend Colorado Christian at times and the Cougars even took a six-point lead in the second half. But the Skyhawks got key stops down the stretch and Johnson hit back-to-back 3-pointers in the second half to help FLC pull away.
“Sometimes it is a little weird on senior night where you have some other stuff going on; we showed up a little lethargic as a team in the first half; we weren't flying around as much,” FLC head coach Jordan Mast said. “That was the difference between the first time we played them and this one. Credit to these guys second half, they came out and just had a little bit different mentality, a little more energy and looked a little more like us in the second half.”
The Skyhawks improved to 17-10 overall and 11-7 in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference after they shot 50% from the field, 35% from 3-point range and 64% from the free-throw line. FLC clinched a spot in the RMAC tournament with the win.
Johnson led FLC with 16 points on 6-9 shooting from the field, 3-6 from 3-point range and 1-1 from the free-throw line. Allen finished with 14 points on 6-10 shooting from the field, 1-1 from 3-point range and 1-5 from the free-throw line.
Colorado Christian fell to 11-15 overall and 7-11 in the RMAC after it shot 47% from the field, 32% from 3-point range and 75% from the free-throw line.
Bradley Land led the Cougars with 15 points on 5-10 shooting from the field, 1-2 from 3-point range and 4-4 from the free-throw line off the bench. Jacob Everson added 13 points for Colorado Christian.
Before the game, seniors Johnson, Tristan Moore and Allen (in his fifth year) were honored with a senior day ceremony.
“I'm just grateful that I can keep playing,” Moore said. “Hopefully, it's not our last home game here, but if it is, I’m glad we got the win. I just want to do whatever I can to keep helping my team go as far as we can.”
The Skyhawks started the first with three baskets by seniors but Colorado Christian established deep position in the paint and finished inside to take a 9-6 lead with 14:30 left in the first.
Colorado Christian continued to have success inside and drew some fouls. But FLC found its offensive rhythm and freshman guard AJ Riggs hit a 3-pointer off a great baseline out-of-bounds play to put FLC up 15-14 with 11:42 left in the first.
“They were getting anything they wanted,” Mast said about Colorado Christian. “It was effort stuff to me. We were just letting them get position instead of making them earn it. They're big, two Division I transfers that if you give them position right under the hoop at 6-foot-10-inches or 6-foot-11-inches, they're going to finish at a high rate.”
The Cougars retook the lead with a 3-pointer to go up 20-17 with 7:45 to go. FLC had multiple possessions with the game tied where Deng settled for 3-pointers and missed.
Mast said sometimes when Deng gets frustrated he tries to shoot himself out of a slump instead of doing other things to help the team.
The teams traded baskets as Colorado Christian made some tough buckets inside. FLC scored in the paint to end the half and led 35-33 at half.
FLC had a rocky start to the second half with turnovers and offensive rebounds by Colorado Christian. The Cougars started the second half on a 7-0 run and led 40-35 with 17:04 left.
The Skyhawks hit a few 3-pointers and Colorado Christian went cold from downtown as FLC regained the lead 46-45 with 12:55 left after an Allen 3-pointer.
FLC’s defensive struggles inside continued as the Cougars were scoring in the post and off the dribble in the paint. Johnson and Allen got in the paint and scored to keep FLC in it. A Johnson layup plus the foul tied the game at 53 with 9:15 left.
Johnson gave FLC a 65-59 lead with 5:50 left. The Skyhawks were running better offense.
With the game in the balance, FLC finally got some stops and started looking like itself on defense. Junior forward Cassius Carmichael had two steals in 20 seconds and Erhart had a scrappy steal that led to a trip to the free-throw line for Carmichael.
He hit one and redshirt freshman guard Stewart Erhart hit two technical free throws to put FLC up 73-64 with 1:23 left to seal the game.
FLC plays at Chadron State on Thursday at 7 p.m.
bkelly@durangoherald.com
