Box score
 
DENVER — No. 19 Fort Lewis (22-7) went on a 35-7 first half run against Adams State (20-9) to take all of the suspense out of a much-anticipated matchup between the two Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference rivals and win 95-73 in the first round of the NCAA Division II men's basketball tournament today at the Auraria Event Center.
 
The Grizzlies, who swept the Skyhawks in the regular season before losing 70-69 to FLC in the RMAC semifinals eight days ago on the same court, ran into a buzz saw today.
 
“Some days you're the proverbial bug and some days you're the windshield. Today we're the bug,” said ASU head coach Louis Wilson, who has guided the Grizzlies to three straight NCAA tournament appearances.  “Fort Lewis played really, really well. Give all the credit to them. There's really not a lot of discussion about it.
 
“Some days in sports, you have less to do with the outcome of the game than the person across from you,” he added.
 
Nick Tomsick scored 27 points and went 11-of-17 from the field and 4-of-6 from behind to ignite the Skyhawks, who spotted the Grizzlies an 11-4 lead in the first three minutes.
 
Tomsick's first field goal cut the lead to 11-10. Before you knew it, he'd hit his first trey and another two-pointer to give the Skyhawks a 15-11 lead — one they'd never relinquish.
 
“The rim felt pretty good today,” said Tomsick. “The last few games at Metro, it felt pretty small. It was good to get the first couple of shots off my back.”
 
Once FLC big men Alex Herrera and Torrey Udall got into foul trouble, the Skyhawks were forced to go with a small lineup. With a revolving door of guards, Fort Lewis was able to create mismatches that either left shooters open behind the three-point arc or allowed for slashing penetrations in the paint.
 
“They shot the ball really well,” said Wilson. “Our problem in our previous matchups with them persisted today. They got the ball to the basket at will.”
 
Four other guards scored in double figures for the Skyhawks, including Marcus Ayala (16 points), Mike Matthews (12), Wes McKenzie (10) and Cade Kloster (10).
 
“It's tough in the regional when you play a team four times,” said 17th-year FLC head coach Bob Hofman. “It's hard on them (ASU) to have to play us for times … to have to come back in all four games. It was a very difficult assignment.
 
“We just made a lot of shots,” he added. “It's hard to play from behind when the other team is making shots.”
 
The Skyhawks blistered the nets all game long, shooting 62.7 percent from the field (37-of-59) — the fifth best field goal percentage in school history. After building a 48-28 lead at halftime by shooting 63.6 percent from the floor, the FLC never took their foot off the gas, shooting 61.5 percent in the second stanza.
 
Fort Lewis made a few adjustments from past meetings with the Grizzlies — namely, improving its press break and reversing the ball better on offense. They also played with urgency.
 
“We played each possession, we played very aggressive and I was really pleased with how hard we played tonight,” said Hofman. “We knew that every possession was going to matter.”
 
The Grizzlies were led by second team Daktronics All-South Central Region selection Kaimyn Pruitt, who finished with 21 points, six rebounds and four blocks, but committed seven turnovers.
 
“I take a lot of the blame for the game today,” said Pruitt, who dominated the Skyhawks in three previous meetings this year. “They're just a real physical group who deserved to win. They just played harder than us today. They executed better than we did today.”
 
John Jackson added 18 points and four assists, while Rodrigo Silva nearly had a double-double with 10 points and eight rebounds. Silva had six of his points in the first two minutes as ASU raced to an 8-2 lead.
 
The Grizzlies committed 23 turnovers today, which led to 30 Fort Lewis points.  The Skyhawks, on the other hand, had just 13 miscues.
 
Led by its trio of reserve guards who each scored in double figures, the FLC bench outscored ASU's bench 38-5.
 
The Skyhawks will face second-seeded St. Mary's (Texas) (22-7), ranked No. 23 in Division II, at 5 p.m. tomorrow.
 
Today's win improved Fort Lewis' all-time record in the NCAA tournament to 3-7.