The Fort Lewis College men’s basketball team will host a first-round quarterfinal to begin the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference tournament on Tuesday.
The result from Saturday’s game against Colorado Mesa will determine the Skyhawks’ seed for the tournament.
The Skyhawks, winners of eight consecutive games, are 15-5 in the conference and 19-7 overall, and are in third place. Colorado Mesa is second at 16-5 and 22-8 overall, meaning FLC could jump into second place with a win Tuesday.
“When you come to play college basketball and you coach college basketball, you want to play in games that are significant in February and March,” head Bob Pietrack told FLC Athletics. “Our players have worked hard to have the opportunity to play in a big game. Colorado Mesa has done the same, which will make for a really fun game come Saturday.”
The game also will serve as the season’s whiteout game, with free T-shirts for first 400 students in attendance.
Black Hills State leads the RMAC at 15-4 and 17-7 overall, while the University of Colorado Colorado Springs (15-7, 20-8), Regis (12-7, 17-8), Colorado School of Mines (12-8, 14-10), Metropolitan State University Denver (10-10, 16-10) and New Mexico Highlands (10-11, 15-12) are also in position to make into the RMAC tournament while Westminster College (9-12, 11-16) is on the bubble.
The tournament’s highest seed, Black Hills State, will host the semifinals Friday and the championship game on Saturday.
The FLC women, meanwhile, won’t make the conference tournament and will conclude their season Saturday against Mesa. The women are 1-19 in the conference and 2-24 overall.
The top eight women’s teams in the league are Colorado School of Mines (17-3, 22-4), CSU Pueblo (16-4, 20-6), Colorado Mesa (16-5, 21-5), Westminster (15-5, 16-8), Black Hills State (14-5, 16-9), MSU Denver (14-6, 18-7), UCCS (11-11, 13-15) and Adams State (10-10, 12-13). Western Colorado upset Mesa on Thursday and is on the bubble at 9-11, 11-14.
Fort Lewis will honor its seniors Saturday, including Riley Farris, JacQuess Hobbs, Corey Seng, Will Wittman and Sydney Candelaria.