by Hayden Mangan
GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. – Fort Lewis moved to 4-3 on the season Friday night inside Brownson Arena as the Skyhawks fought through 10 lead changes and 45 total fouls to emerge with a gritty 82-71 victory over Emporia State (1-4) on the back of a career-high 23-point performance from fifth-year guard Tru Allen.
“We’re starting to really click defensively, and now we just need to be more consistent on the offensive end,” head coach Jordan Mast commented. “The guys are syncing up on the defensive end, knowing where each other is, and are flying around creating chaos and turnovers. Now, we need to find our flow on offense. If we can play as we did in the second half with sharing the ball and creating players for each other instead of ourselves, we’ll be in great shape.”
Allen put up his game-high 23 points on 7-of-9 shooting from the floor with a 2-4 clip from beyond the arc while also picking up three rebounds, blocking a shot, and matching Biko Johnson and Malachi Coleman with a team-high three assists. Choul Deng returned to dominating on both ends of the floor as the senior from Juba, South Sudan, earned his third double-double of the season with 16 points and a game-high 10 rebounds.
Johnson was also a key contributor as the senior guard added 18 points, outscored only by Allen and the Hornets’ Malik Edwards who had 19 points, while also bringing down seven rebounds, making three assists and two steals, and blocking a shot. Tristan Moore rounded out the Skyhawks to finish in double figures with a 10-point, three-steal affair.
Fort Lewis forced 20+ turnovers out of its opponent for the third straight game as Emporia State gave up 23 on the night, 14 stolen by Skyhawks, while FLC committed just 15 turnovers against 10 steals. And while Emporia State won the rebound battle 39 to 36, the Skyhawks owned the edge in both points in the paint 32 to 26 and points off turnovers 30 to 21. FLC also scored 25 fast-break points.
Three-point struggles continued with Fort Lewis firing off from beyond the arc at 28.0 percent (7-25) led by Allen and Johnson’s pair of treys. Emporia State, on the other hand, fared slightly better at 31.6 percent (6-19). The Skyhawks out-shot the Hornets 44.8 percent (26-58) to 39.3 percent (22-56) from the field. Most notably, Fort Lewis put together one of its best game-closing performances of the season holding ESU to just one point on a free throw across the final 4:47 seconds of action.
