Since the beginning of the season, Fort Lewis men’s basketball head coach Jordan Mast has emphasized the importance of sharing the ball with his team. The Skyhawks did that Thursday night at Adams State and had their best offensive showing of the season.
FLC finished with 17 assists and had five players finish in double figures in its 88-71 win over Adams State.
“I'm so proud of these guys because it's a team win and that's what we've been preaching,” Mast said. “When you have a bunch of new guys, sometimes it takes a while for him to figure it out... The message is, the team's always better than individual play... We’ve defended as a team pretty well, but tonight, we played well offensively together. When we do that, we've shown we can be pretty good.”
The Skyhawks improved to 7-5 overall and 2-2 in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference after it shot a season-high 49% from the field and 40% from the 3-point line. FLC also shot 75% from the free-throw line in the win.
Senior forward Chuol Deng and senior guard Biko Johnson each had 15 points to lead FLC. Johnson finished shooting 5-13 overall, 2-5 from 3-point range and 3-5 from the free-throw line. Johnson also had five rebounds and six assists. Deng finished 6-10 from the field, 3-7 from 3-point range with eight rebounds.
Fifth-year guard Tru Allen finished with 14 points, freshman guard AJ Riggs finished with 13 points and redshirt freshman guard Stewart Erhart had 11 points for FLC. Riggs stepped into junior guard Malachi Coleman’s minutes who was out today with an illness.
Adams State fell to 4-6 overall and 0-3 in the RMAC after shooting 44% from the field, 35% from 3-point range and 72% from the free-throw line in the loss.
Jaylen Alexander led the Grizzlies with 22 points on 7-7 from the field, 2-2 from 3-point range and 6-7 from the free-throw line.
FLC struggled to score early and fell into a 5-0 deficit after three minutes of play. But the Skyhawks responded with an 8-0 run thanks to two 3-pointers by Riggs and Deng.
The Skyhawks started turning the Grizzlies over and FLC had some transition buckets. Deng continued his hot shooting from the New Mexico Highlands game on Tuesday night. He cashed a step-back 3-pointer off an Adams State turnover for a 20-14 lead with 10 minutes left.
Three-pointers continued to fall for FLC as Riggs hit another one and Erhart also made one. Riggs scored in transition for a 35-23 lead for the Skyhawks. Riggs, who’d played 22 minutes and had eight points all year, had eight points in the first half.
“We told him, ‘Hey, be ready; this is a great opportunity for you to step in and show us what you can do and not just be out there, but be a contributor,”’ Mast said about Riggs. “To his credit, he stepped in and showed us he can shoot the ball at a high level. That's what we recruited him to do. That's what he did in high school. He spent two years off on a Mormon mission. So it's taking a little time to get back and used to playing at the college level, especially the speed. It just happened he got his opportunity tonight and he made the most of it.”
Adams State cut into FLC’s lead with a combination of open 3-pointers and some strong finishes inside. Jaylen Alexander hit back-to-back 3-pointers to cut FLC’s lead to 42-40 with about two minutes left. FLC led 44-40 at halftime.
FLC started the second half on a 6-0 run thanks to a 0-4 stretch from the free-throw line from Adams State. Deng had a beautiful block that led to a Johnson 3-pointer for a 55-42 lead with 17 minutes left.
The Skyhawks kept their lead in double digits throughout the middle of the second half with great ball movement. FLC’s guards were finding Deng, junior forward Keither Florence and junior forward Cassius Carmichael inside for finishes. A Carmichael putback put FLC up 69-56 with 7:40 to go.
“Adams extends a little bit and when they extend on our guards, we feel our guards are pretty good getting downhill and making plays,” Mast said. “But the message was, we can't just shoot threes and can't just drive every time. It's got to be a steady diet of both. We did that.”
Riggs hit a 3-pointer with six minutes to go to put FLC up 77-57 with 6:31 to go.
The Skyhawks play at home against Division II’s No.2 ranked team in West Texas A&M on Dec. 20 at noon.
bkelly@durangoherald.com
