CANYON, TEXAS-The Fort Lewis men’s basketball team loves the comeback.
First halves haven’t been its specialty and the Skyhawks have faced large deficits in their last four games. Saturday afternoon against Lubbock Christian was no different. The Skyhawks trailed 15-6 with 14:21 to go in the first half of their first-round game of the South Central regional.
But once again, Fort Lewis came back with its size inside. The Skyhawks shot 68% in the second half and beat Lubbock Christian 86-72 inside First United Bank Center.
The Skyhawks had 40 points in the paint compared to the Chaps’ 26. Fort Lewis also won the rebound battle 37-29.
Fort Lewis improved to 29-3 overall after it shot 56% from the field, 39% from the 3-point line and 65% from the free-throw line in the win.
Lubbock Christian fell to 23-11 overall after it shot 43% from the field, 23% from 3-point range and 87% from the free-throw line in the loss.
“Credit Lubbock Christian, they're very hard to play,” Fort Lewis head coach Bob Pietrack said. “They make you be disciplined and credit Coach Duncan and his staff on a great year. The slow start, I don't understand why it's happening to us. It's like four in a row or five in a row. It’s something we're going to try to fix but I’m very proud of our team's effort, energy and then execution pretty much the last 35 minutes of the game.”
Junior guard Obi Agbim led the Skyhawks with 16 points on 5-13 shooting from the field, 1-4 from the 3-point line and 5-5 from the free-throw line along with nine rebounds.
Both Carter and senior center Sekou Dembele combined to finish with 24 points on 11-12 shooting and 13 rebounds.
Junior forward Brayden Carter was 7-7 from the field and 1-1 from the free-throw to finish with 15 points. Redshirt sophomore forward Amondo Miller Jr. had 14 points on 5-8 shooting from the field, 2-3 from 3-point range and 2-6 from the free-throw line.
“He’s a buck, he’s a buck in there,” Pietrack said. “So especially with our size advantage, we wanted to take advantage of it. Brayden did a really nice job and we didn’t get him to the free-throw line but we hope to get him there tomorrow.”
Lubbock Christian was led by Ethan Duncan’s 16 points on 6-16 shooting from the field, 4-10 from 3-point range along with six rebounds. Kurt Wegscheider also had 15 points for the Chaps.
Fort Lewis’ 3-point defense was impressive because Lubbock Christian was third in Division II in 3-point percentage at 43%. The Skyhawks held it to 8% shooting from downtown in the first half and 33% in the second half.
“We did a really nice job,” Pietrack said about his team’s defense. “Especially in the first half, we kept them to one 3-pointer. Ethan Duncan, who's a heck of a player got loose a few times in the second half. After the slow start, I really felt we had them at a jabber’s distance and they're just they're a hard team to play.”
Fort Lewis’ defense wasn’t strong to start the game. Lubbock Christian was able to get paint touches and score. The Skyhawks couldn’t use their size advantage early and trailed 13-4 with 16 minutes left.
Miller Jr. was able to get to the basket and draw some fouls with his size and length. Miller made two of his four free throws in this span.
“I’m just trying to do anything to give my team a spark,” Miller Jr. said. “Defense, offense whatever, I’m trying to make plays to get us going.”
Miller was great in the first 10 minutes. He caused a turnover and finished in transition and then hit a 3-pointer. He had nine points in the first 10 minutes.
Fort Lewis did a better job defending the 3-point line as Lubbock started out 1-10 from 3-point line. The offense wasn’t as crisp with some costly turnovers. Carter started to get going inside and finished inside twice to cut the Chaps lead to 25-24 with 4:15 left.
The Skyhawks hit five of six shots toward the end of the second half. Senior guard Junior Garbrah hit a 3-pointer, Dembele finished inside and junior guard Samier Kinsler hit two free throws to give Fort Lewis a 35-29 lead with 1:20 to go. Lubbock Christian struggled to finish inside during this span.
Fort Lewis started the half with three makes. Duncan hit two 3-pointers though and the Skyhawks led 44-38 with 17:50 to go.
Agbim had eight points in the first five minutes to keep the breathing room for Fort Lewis.
Although Duncan hit three 3-pointers and some tough shots, Fort Lewis started the half 10-15 from the field with a bunch of paint touches. Carter finished inside and Fort Lewis led 60-51 with 10:30 to go in the first half.
“In any game, the defense breaks down a little bit,” Pietrack said. “It's like a baseball glove. The more you play catch with it, the looser it gets, that's how defense normally works. We got free in the posts a little bit. We were committed to throwing it in and when you have that, it worked out for us tonight.”
Lubbock Christian had no answers for Carter inside and it looked like the players guarding him had gotten worn down. Carter was 6-6 from the field and Fort Lewis led 66-58 with 6:37 to go.
The Skyhawks continued to wear down Lubbock Christian and got great looks inside. Junior guard Jhei-R Jones got to the free throw line to push the Skyhawks lead to 82-68 with 1:20 to go.
It was a return to familiar scenery for Fort Lewis assistant coach Jeff Evans. He was a well-known high school basketball coach in the Amarillo area. Pietrack credited the team’s pressing defensive approach to Evans.
Fort Lewis plays Colorado Mesa for the third time this season on Sunday at 4 p.m. MT. The Skyhawks have beaten the Mavericks in both of the previous meetings this season with the most recent meeting coming in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference tournament championship.
bkelly@durangoherald.com
