Box score
ETHETE, Wyo. — Though the frost is barely on the pumpkins, college basketball kicked off tonight for the Fort Lewis College men's basketball team. NCAA Division I Wyoming defeated the Skyhawks 82-61 in an exhibition game tonight at Wyoming Indian High School on the Wind River Reservation.
“We did a lot of experimenting and played some players we normally wouldn't play as much,” said Skyhawk head coach
Bob Hofman, who began his 17th season (and 13th consecutive) at the helm of the FLC program. “It was a scrimmage. We saw some good things and a lot of things we can improve upon. We played 13 players some meaningful minutes. We've got a lot of learning to do. In general, it was a very good learning experience for us.”
The Skyhawks kept things close in the first half, trailing the Cowboys 36-31 at intermission. Fort Lewis led for much of the opening frame by as many as five points on a couple of occasions before the Cowboys went on a 10-2 run in the final 3:31 to end the first half.
The Cowboys never trailed in the second stanza and extended their lead to double digits at 52-41 with 12 minutes remaining.
Fort Lewis' one-two inside punch accounted for the bulk of their points. Senior center
Torrey Udall led the way with 15 points on a perfect 5-of-5 night from the field. Sophomore center
Alex Herrera chipped in 12. Guards
Marcus Ayala and
Mike Matthews scored seven points each.
The Cowboys were led by Larry Nance, Jr. — yes, the son of that Larry Nance, the three-time NBA All-Star who won the NBA's first-ever dunk contest in 1984 — with 21 points. Nance added eight points and three assists. Four other Wyoming players scored in double figures, including Josh Adams (12), Luke Martinez (11), Jason McManamen (11) and Derek Cooke, Jr. (10).
The teams each shot well from the field, as Wyoming made 51.8 percent of its field goals (29 of 56) and Fort Lewis 48.9 percent (23 of 47). The Cowboys dominated the glass, though, with 40 rebounds (15 offensive) while holding Fort Lewis to 23 boards.
The game was a collaboration between the Cowboys and the Nike N7 program. N7 is Nike's commitment to bring sport and all of its benefits to Native American and Aboriginal communities across North America. The program believes that sport has the power to unleash human potential and a physically active lifestyle promotes more than exercise, according to its mission statement. Nike N7 looks to enable youth to be a force for positive change in their communities.
Fort Lewis College traces its beginnings to a federal Indian boarding school and today is a leader in Native American higher education. Qualified Native American students will be admitted to Fort Lewis College tuition free (but are still responsible for purchasing books, paying college fees, and room and board expenses.
“We have a long history of recruiting Native American student-athletes to Fort Lewis,” said Hofman, who is a registered member of the Chickasaw Nation of Oklahoma. He has coached such players as Chet Gladstone (a member of the Blackfeet Tribe of Montana who played at FLC from 2003-07) and Shawn Martinez (Navajo, 1986-89).
The exhibition game does not count toward either team's record. All statistics are also unofficial and don't count toward the teams' and players' 2012-13 totals.
On Friday and Saturday, Fort Lewis will play exhibitions against a pair of NAIA programs at Westminster College in Salt Lake City. While the games don't count toward FLC's overall record, the NAIA does count them toward the overall records of Westminster (which FLC plays at 7 p.m. Friday) and Montana Western (which FLC plays at 5 p.m. Saturday).
Fort Lewis begins its regular season and home slate when it hosts Northern New Mexico at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 15 in Whalen Gymnasium.
The Skyhawks open their 22-game RMAC schedule at 7:30 p.m. on Nov. 30 at UC-Colorado Springs.
All of FLC's RMAC games plus the Nov. 15 tilt with Northern New Mexico will be broadcast live on KIUP (930 AM and
www.radiodurango.com) by play-by-play announcer Ken Flint.
