DURANGO, Colo. – University of Colorado Colorado Springs men's basketball receives their first loss in nearly a month by falling to sharp shooting Fort Lewis College 90-78 on Saturday night inside FLC's Whalen Gymnasium.
 
INSIDE THE MATCHUP: 
Final: UCCS 79, FLC 90
Records: UCCS (15-7, 10-6 RMAC), FLC (12-7, 8-5 RMAC)
Location: Whalen Gymnasium | Durango, Colo.
Series: Under Head Coach Jeff Culver, UCCS trails FLC with a 5-9 record against the Skyhawks.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED:
• Off the tip-off, it was Fort Lewis College trying to set the tone early as a made layup from Brendan Boatwright drew the and-one to put the Skyhawks up 3-0 in the first possession of the game. The next score came out of the hands of William Becker who pulled up to make his third three-pointer of the year as the sophomore erased the FLC lead and-one play.
• On the opposite end, FLC managed to regain the lead with a made jumper and pushed out to a four-point lead but Parker Gaddis fed an open Wyatt Dolberry who drained a three to keep the game within one-point at the 13:49 mark, 9-8.  
• The Skyhawks maintained the lead further into the first half as Akuel Oket hit back-to-back three-pointers to put the pressure on UCCS who answered with Jezza McKenzie netting a jumper in the paint and Jon'il Fugett recording a trey right out of the media timeout to reel the game back to three points at the 7:43 mark, 22-19.
• From there, the Skyhawks continued to make their shots count as they built out to a 37-25 lead with a little over two minutes left in the half. Boasting a field-goal percentage of 52 percent, FLC didn't slow down in taking shots with the UCCS defense not slowing down either as Mac Stodart laid one in and came back on the other end to force a Riley Farris turnover. The Australian native notched the steal and helped turn it into three points by feeding Fugett for the open three as they cut the FLC lead down with 1:24 left, 37-30. A pair of free throws came both teams' way in the final seconds of the half as Fort Lewis held on to the seven-point lead at halftime.
• In the second half, the Skyhawks were sent to the line just over a minute in where 1-of-2 free throws were made from Boatwright. Just as he did to open the game, Becker matched the first FLC points of the half by collecting an offensive rebound and putting it back for what would be the Mountain Lions' smallest deficit for the remainder of the game, 40-34.
• UCCS improved their second half field-goal percentage by bumping up to 41.9 percent, but the Skyhawks showed no sign of slowing down as they sprinted ahead to a 20-point lead behind a blistering 60.7 field-goal percentage for the half to make it 65-45.
• The Mountain Lions chipped away at the 20-point deficit in the final minutes with Bobby Martin coming on to the floor to score eight points in the final four minutes with McKenzie also throwing in six points to sit back only eight points with 23 seconds left. That eight points turned into 11 after two more committed UCCS fouls led to a 90-79 final inside Whalen Gymnasium.

STATS FROM THE DAY:
• Fort Lewis was tough to stop on the offensive side of the ball after turning in a red hot 56.6 percent from the field and 42.9 percent from beyond the arc. UCCS turned in a field-goal percentage of 41 percent and three-point percentage of 36 percent as the Mountain Lions and Skyhawks each shot 80 percent from the charity stripe.
• FLC and UCCS logged 18 points off turnovers Saturday night with the Skyhawks giving the ball up 11 times and the Mountain Lions turning it over 14 times.
• UCCS out-rebounded FLC 35-28, including 16-5 in offensive rebounds which the Mountain Lions turned into 21 second chance points.
• Jon'il Fugett paced the Mountain Lions with 18 points by shooting 6-of-11 from the field and 3-of-4 from three-point. The team leader in steals added a game high four steals as he also added one block and game high four assists.
 • Jezza McKenzie contributed 14 points and gathered four rebounds with three of those coming on the offensive end.
• Bobby Martin played the most minutes off the bench with 21 as he logged eight points on 2-of-4 from long range and 2-of-2 from the free throw line.

BEYOND THE BOX:
• Jon'il Fugett improves to fifth in the RMAC with 36 total steals this season.
• Fort Lewis posted their second-best field-goal percentage of the season and third most points scored for the season on Saturday night.
• The Mountain Lions move to fifth place in the RMAC Standings after Colorado School of Mines notched their eighth straight win to slide up to fourth place.

UP NEXT:
• UCCS Men's Basketball gets ready for a pair of home matchups next week with Black Hills State University on Friday, Feb. 11 and Chadron State College on Saturday, Feb. 12.
 
SOCIAL:
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As a member of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference, the University of Colorado Colorado Springs competes in 16 varsity sports in NCAA Division II intercollegiate athletics.