Malik Whitaker led the way as one of three seniors honored
Malik Whitaker of Fort Lewis College dunks the ball on Dec. 16, 2023, while playing Westminster University at Whalen Gymnasium. (Jerry McBride/Durango Herald)
Jerry McBride
It wasn’t pretty, but the Fort Lewis men’s basketball team extended its winning streak to 12 games with some clutch shot-making and defensive stops in the second half, outlasting South Dakota Mines 86-83 on Saturday night.
The Skyhawks (24-2 overall and 19-1 in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference) went 15-0 at home in the regular season.
Fort Lewis shot 45% from the field, 43% from 3-point range and 95% from the free-throw line. Fort Lewis also honored seniors Malik Whitaker, Junior Garbrah and Sekou Dembele.
South Dakota Mines fell to 11-15 overall and 9-11 in the RMAC after it shooting 46% from the field, 33% from the 3-point line and 80% from the charity stripe.
“I’m really proud of our seniors,” Skyhawks coach Bob Pietrack said. “On senior night, it’s a great win. Malik played outstanding, Junior has been such a solid brick in our house all year long and Sekou. We made big plays down the stretch, we made free throws and that was probably the difference in the game.”
Senior guard Malik Whitaker led the Skyhawks with a season-high 26 points on 10 of 14 shooting from the field, 3 of 5 from beyond the arc and 3 of 3 from the free-throw line along with nine rebounds. Junior guards Jhei-R Jones and Samier Kinsler had 15 and 12 points, respectively.
South Dakota Mines was led by guard Alejandro Rama’s 23 points after he shot 7-18 from the field, 3-13 from downtown and 6-7 from the line. Forward Keagen Smith also had 22 points for the Hardrockers.
Whitaker started the game with a 3-pointer but South Dakota Mines got two layups in transition and an open top-of-the-key 3-pointer to take a 7-3 lead with 15:25 left. The Hardrockers then took a 13-8 lead after Kinsler fouled a 3-point shooter.
Fort Lewis was able to get consistent paint touches and that culminated in a lob from a baseline out-of-bounds play to Whitaker and he slammed it home with one hand to give the Skyhawks a 17-16 lead with 8:46 left in the first half.
The Hardrockers continued to hit outside while Fort Lewis struggled to finish through contact with Pietrack’s constant yell for a foul echoing in the background. Smith finished through the contact, was fouled and made the free-throw to go up 30-21 with 3:33 remaining in the first half.
Then Fort Lewis went inside numerous times and Whitaker continued a strong half with an old-school 3-point play to cut the South Dakota Mines lead to 35-32 with 1:31 left.
The Skyhawks turned up heat on the press and finished the half strong with back-to-back turnovers, which led to layups and a 38-35 lead with 21 seconds left. Fort Lewis led 38-37 at the half.
“I don’t think our energy has been great,” Pietrack said of the lackluster first half. “It’s been good in spurts but not great collectively. Our offense, even though we’re scoring, we can do a lot better than this with our efficiency.”
The Hardrockers finished extremely well to start the second half with Fort Lewis pressure all over them. However, a Jones corner 3-pointer gave the Skyhawks a 48-47 lead with 16:39 left.
The Skyhawks forced some hurried and contested shots and on offense, Whitaker continued to shine with his silky-smooth stroke. A Jones 3-pointer gave the Skyhawks a 58-47 lead with 14:17 left.
Both teams then couldn’t stop each other, as Jones and Smith traded 3-pointers. Smith then had a layup inside, followed by a Garbrah 3-pointer, all in about a minute of game time.
Fort Lewis allowed the Hardrockers back in the game with long jump shots instead of getting the ball inside. South Dakota Mines was able to break the press and finish inside to cut the lead to 69-68 with 7:28 left.
Fort Lewis started getting paint touches again and Garbrah made free throws and Whitaker finished strong inside to push the Skyhawks’ lead to 73-68 with 5:10 left.
Fort Lewis was lucky during that time, as South Dakota Mines got some open looks from 3-point range but couldn’t knock them down off crisp ball movement.
Agbim got inside and finished strong to increase the Skyhawks lead to 79-70 with 3:36 to go. But South Dakota Mines wouldn’t go away and got into the bonus and into the paint. Off two offensive rebounds, the Hardrockers finished inside to cut the Fort Lewis lead to 79-76 with 1:48 to go.
But Agbim showed why he’s one of the team’s leaders. Despite not shooting the ball well for the second straight game, he knocked down a huge 3-pointer at the end of the shot clock to give the Skyhawks some breathing room via an 82-76 lead with 1:12 left.
“That was probably the biggest shot of the game,” Pietrack said.
The game appeared over, but Jones made a terrible decision and fouled a 3-point shooter up six. Rima made the shot plus the foul to make it a 86-83 game with three seconds left. Rima tried to miss the free throw, and Whitaker grabbed the game-sealing rebound.
With two games to go in the regular season, Garbrah has played in 124 games for the Skyhawks in his career and averaged 6.2 points per game.
“I’m thankful for my entire career,” Garbrah said. “I’m thankful and appreciative for my guys. We have so many elite athletes, elite basketball players and on top of that elite people.”
Dembele has played in 59 games for the Skyhawks and has averaged 4.7 points per game and 4.5 rebounds per game. Whitaker is averaging 12.1 points per game and 5.0 boards per game in his lone season for the Skyhawks.
Fort Lewis resumes action this upcoming Friday at Metropolitan State University of Denver, starting at 7 p.m.
bkelly@durangoherald.com
