A victory at Black Hills State never looked like a guarantee for Fort Lewis Saturday night. However, junior guard Obi Agbim had it going on the offensive end, hitting timely shots all night to keep the Skyhawks within striking distance of the Yellow Jackets.
Agbim’s shot-making paid off as his career-high 28 points powered Fort Lewis past Black Hills State, 75-70.
“Obi was sensational,” Fort Lewis coach Bob Pietrack said. “He was really good and he was all-tournament team in the RMAC tournament last year and had some really good games. This was probably his best game in a Skyhawks uniform as far as scoring and keeping us in the game and we needed it the most. So that's what a returning player that's been through the battles in the league should do.”
Agbim shot 10 of 20 from the field, 3 of 7 from 3-point range and 5 of 6 from the free-throw line.
Fort Lewis improved to 12-1 and 7-0 in the RMAC after shooting 46% from the field and 33% from 3-point range.
Junior forward Brayden Carter had 18 points off the bench on his 21st birthday on 7 of 10 shooting from the field and 4 of 6 from the free-throw line. Senior guard Malik Whitaker had 14 points on 5 of 10 shooting, including 2 of 3 shooting from downtown, as well as six rebounds.
The Skyhawks didn’t have their usual balance in scoring, as no other player scored more than four points.
Black Hills State fell to 6-7 overall and 4-3 in the RMAC after shooting 44% from the field and 37% from the 3-point line.
RMAC leading scorer Matthew Ragsdale was held to 17 points on 6 of 17 shooting from the field and 4 of 13 shooting from downtown. Ragsdale is averaging 21.2 points per game on the season.
“We just wanted to make it an inefficient night,” Pietrack said. “We knew he was going to score, we wanted to make it hard for him as best we can. Seventeen points is one thing but on 17 shots, so we kept him off the free-throw line. We kept Black Hills off the free-throw line in general, they only had eight free throws. So it was just a heck of a gutty win for us.”
Caelin Hearne had 16 points for Black Hills State.
The Yellow Jackets’ 3-point shooting prowess was on display in the first half. They went 6 of 12 from deep and stretched the first-half lead to as many as eight points with less than seven minutes to go.
But Fort Lewis fought back to cut the Black Hills State lead to 39-38 at half behind Agbim’s 14 first-half points.
In the second half, the Yellow Jackets stretched the lead to eight points again off a 3-pointer from Hearne to make the score 55-47 with 12:40 to go. But a midrange jumper, 3-pointer and steal by Whitaker led to the Skyhawks taking a 61-59 lead with 7:07 left.
The teams battled back and forth before Fort Lewis had a 5-0 run, which included a thunderous one-handed dunk by Carter, to go up 72-67 with 1:29 left to seal the win.
Fort Lewis returns to action Jan. 12 at University of Colorado Colorado Springs.
bkelly@durangoherald.com
