Fort Lewis College men’s basketball has been on the wrong side of a buzzer-beater this season against Regis. Senior guard Biko Johnson put FLC on the right side of one Thursday night at Western Colorado.
With the game tied at 73, Johnson got the ball with 16 seconds left. He dribbled toward the right wing where senior forward Chuol Deng was ready with a screen. Johnson went right, stepped back on the baseline and nailed a jumper from about 18 feet to put FLC up 75-73 with a second left. Western Colorado didn’t even get a shot off and the Skyhawks were victorious after being down by 13 points in the second half.
“Credit to the guys; we talked about just being tougher and they were tired,” FLC head coach Jordan Mast said. “We were playing at elevation, but so what? The tough team is going to win and they're tired too. In the last 10 minutes, they (FLC) showed their grit, flew around and created havoc. They (Western Colorado) beat us in every statistical category except turnovers … when you do that, that's effort and that gives you a shot to win games when you don't shoot it well and you get outrebounded by almost 20.”
FLC improved to 9-5 overall and 3-2 in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference after it shot 34% from the field, 27% from 3-point range and 73% from the free-throw line in its fourth-consecutive win.
Johnson led all Skyhawks in scoring with 25 points on 7-17 shooting from the field, 2-5 from 3-point range and 9-13 from the free-throw line. Senior forward Chuol Deng had 11 points on 4-12 shooting from the field, 1-5 from 3-point range and 2-3 from the free-throw line along with 10 rebounds.
Western Colorado fell to 4-8 overall and 2-3 in the RMAC after it shot 47% from the field, 42% from 3-point range and 62% from the free-throw line.
Christian Still led the Mountaineers with 25 points on 9-11 shooting from the field, 4-5 from 3-point range and 3-4 from the free-throw line in only 19 minutes off the bench. Kade Juelfs added 16 points for Western Colorado.
Despite being outshot and outrebounded 47-33 by Western Colorado, the Skyhawks dominated the turnover battle 19-4.
FLC and Western Colorado battled back and forth throughout the first 13 minutes. The Skyhawks made four 3-pointers in the first 13 minutes and FLC had a 24-23 lead with 4:36 left in the first half.
Then the Mountaineers went on a 13-0 run to take a 37-24 lead with 1:10 left. Western Colorado took a 38-29 lead into halftime.
“We’ve had two of these longer breaks and then we haven't played our best; we’ve kind of played flat,” Mast said. “The first one was we had a 10-day break before we played Metro (MSU Denver) and we kind of got whooped and started bad. Then this was similar where we've been off and we were a little flat. We didn't rebound at a high level. We were pressing, but weren't getting anything out of it in the first half.”
Western Colorado kept the margin between a healthy distance and was up 60-50 with seven minutes left. The Skyhawks then went on a 10-2 run off layups and free throws to get back into the game.
Mast said FLC showed an additional level of hustle late in the game. Even when Western Colorado broke the Skyhawks’ press, FLC kept hustling and making plays, like when junior guard Malachi Coleman had a huge steal from behind with 3:45 left.
FLC took its first lead of the second half thanks to a Chuol Deng free-throw and led 65-64 with 3:28 left. FLC extended its lead to 68-64 with a Johnson 3-pointer but Western Colorado wouldn’t go away. Still hit back-to-back 3-pointers to cut FLC’s lead to 71-70 with 53 seconds left.
Mast called timeout and called a great play where Johnson set a back screen for Deng for an open layup. Mast said it’s a play associate head coach James Jansen brought to the program.
Then disaster struck for FLC. Up 73-70, fifth year guard Tru Allen fouled Juelfs on a 3-pointer with 16 seconds left. Juelfs made all three free throws to tie the game. Before the third free throw, Mast called a timeout.
“We basically said, ‘Look, if they make it, wind the clock down, we're going to get a side ball screen with two of our best players, Chuol and Biko, and go make a play,’” Mast said. “Sometimes coaches will overthink it but we just said, ‘Hey, we'll get the ball in our best player’s hand, give them some structure and what to look for and then have them go make a play.’ Biko, to his credit, man, made a big shot.”
FLC plays at Westminster at 3 p.m. on Saturday.
bkelly@durangoherald.com
