Box Score DURANGO, Colo. – The Cowboys lost in a nail biter to #21 Fort Lewis 83-79. It was an intense game that displayed why both teams are on top of the conference rankings.
Jonathon Mines continued his stellar play this season by scoring a personal season high 32 points.
Both teams came out slow as it took two minutes for
Kendrick Nichols, who had 16 points, to make the first shot of the game. Fort Lewis would begin to heat up and have 13-6 lead with 12:12 in the half. The Cowboys would counter back with a 5-2 run to cut the deficit to four.
Fort Lewis would try to pull away again but two threes by
James Healy would prevent that and tie the game at 17-17. Healy would drain another three pointer to put the boys up 22-19 with 6:35 on the clock. The lead would be short lived, as the Skyhawks would score the next five points to regain the lead.
Both teams would then trade the lead until the end of the half. A shot from behind the arc by
Andre Hardy would close out the half, and the Cowboys would be down 36-34 to the Skyhawks.
The Skyhawks would come out strong in the second half, and go on 9-2 run. The Cowboys would strike back with shots from downtown by Nichols and Mines would put the Cowboys back in striking distance.
With 13:24 in the game, Fort Lewis would be up 53-50. The Cowboys would continue to fight and tie the game at 56-56 after a triple by Mines.
The game would begin to heat up soon after as each team would counter back with a basket of their own. With 4:09 in the game, Fort Lewis would have a six point lead. Healy again would prevent a big run and drain a three to bring the game back to a one possession game.
With 2 minutes left in the game, both teams were battling to get the win. As each shot became more critical, the Cowboys managed to keep their cool and continue to drain shots.
With a minute left in the game, Healy would make one of two free throws to cut the deficit to one. The Skyhawks would drain a huge three to go up 82-78. After a made free throw by Healy and a missed free throw by the Skyhawks, the Cowboys would have one last chance to tie the game.
After a timeout,
Kendrick Nichols would take the shot with five seconds left and just miss. The Cowboys fought hard against #21 Fort Lewis and were so close to taking them down.
The loss gives the Cowboys their third conference loss and the same RMAC record as Fort Lewis with a 10-3 record. These two team will in is Las Vegas for a rematch on February 19
th.
| New Mexico Highlands | Fort Lewis |
| Field Goal Percentage | 50.8% (26-56) | 50.8% (30-59) |
| Three Point Percentage | 46.4% (13-28) | 57.1% (16-28) |
| Free Throw Percentage | 66.7% (14-21) | 43.8% (7-16) |
| Rebounds | 30 | 40 |
| Turnovers | 13 | 16 |
| Leading Scorer | Jonathon Mines 32 | Will Morse 22 |
| Leading Rebounder | Marlon Johnson 7 | Joshua Blaylock |
