Regis (CO) Regis 19-9,13-8 RMAC

Fort Lewis FLC 19-9,15-6 RMAC

Regis (CO) Regis

19-9,13-8 RMAC

Final

Mar. 01, 2022

Fort Lewis FLC

19-9,15-6 RMAC

Score By Periods
Team	1	2	F
Regis (CO) Regis	42	44	86
Fort Lewis FLC	26	55	81

Summary
Box Score

Ted Betsy, Regis Athletics

Regis graduate student Ilisia Washington scored a career-high 25 points in RU's RMAC quarterfinal win against Fort Lewis (File Photo)

Game Recap: Men's Basketball | Mar 01 | David Wilson, Assistant AD-Communications

No. 6 Rangers advance to RMAC Tournament semi-final with 86-81 road win over No. 3 Fort Lewis

DURANGO, Colo. — Propelled by a monster first-half performance, and a career night from graduate student Ilisia Washington, the No. 6 seed Regis University men's basketball team kept its conference title hopes alive by upending No. 3 seed Fort Lewis College, 86-81, in the quarterfinals of the RMAC Tournament.

The victory for the Rangers (19-9 overall) marked the second time this season they've made the eight-hour trek south and came away with a victory inside Whalen Gymnasium; a place where the Skyhawks (19-9 overall) were 8-4 this season and 27-9 against Regis in the all-time series between the RMAC foes.

"This win feels incredible. The grit and toughness it takes to win on the road in the playoffs is hard to overstate and that's exactly what got us through (Tuesday). It was just grit and mental toughness," said Regis head men's basketball coach, Brady Bergeson. "After we got out early, Coach Pietrack (FLC head coach) did a phenomenal job of coaching, got us off balance a bit with switching defenses. But for our guys, with that home court advantage FLC has, to be able to make plays down the stretch in a close playoff game speaks to our kids' mental toughness and grit."

HOW IT HAPPENED: After falling behind 16-7 in the early going, the Rangers defense again rose to the occasion as they limited the RMAC's top scoring offense (84.1 PPG) to just 10 points over the final 12:54 of the first half. The suffocating defense sparked a would-be 35-10 blitz for Regis to take a 42-26 lead at the break.

Regis, fresh off a 20-steal performance in the regular season finale win against Adams State, finished with 13 steals on Tuesday and forced the Skyhawks — RMAC leaders in fewest turnovers per game (11.0) — into 13 giveaways through the game's opening 20 minutes.

The Rangers would end the evening with a 22-5 advantage in points off turnovers.

"We didn't really do anything all that special. It was just good ol' fashion ball pressure and we wanted to establish our pick-up points at full-court," Bergeson said. "We wanted to make sure we were playing aggressive and forward, defensively, and I thought our guys did exactly that. When we do that, we're at our best. We have a lot of guys with quick hands."

Fort Lewis would not go away quietly, though, rallying all the way back to within two on three occasions, the last being with 2:04 remaining on a 3-pointer from FLC leading scorer Riley Farris (19.1 PPG), who was limited to just six points Tuesday on 2-of-8 shooting.

"(FLC) picked up full-court, which took some time off our shot clock, and they were switching defensive looks so that kept us a little off-balance there for a few minutes," Bergeson said. "We responded on the offensive end, but it just took a little bit of time. FLC had some of its secondary scorers step up and make big shots, but I thought we still did a nice job of limiting their two big scores in Farris and (Akuel) Kot."

Regis graduate student Ilisia Washington put the Skyhawks' comeback hopes to rest as he scored the last seven points for the Rangers in the final 90 seconds as part of his career-high 25 points off the bench.

Washington, who's previous season high was 13 points on Nov. 27 in a win over Benedictine University at Mesa, was an efficient 6-of-9 from the field and a perfect 10-for-10 at the free-throw line to lead four Rangers in double-figures.

"I can't say enough about the kid. We got a mature fifth-year senior who has played a significant role, but not necessarily a leading scorer role this year," said Bergeson of Washington. "He is a guy who works incredibly hard on his craft and I think tonight was simply a situation where preparation met opportunity for him."

GAME NOTES: Junior forward Kevin Ebiriekwe, who scored a career-high 21 points in the first matchup against Fort Lewis back on Dec. 17, had another monster performance against the Skyhawks on Tuesday. He finished with 18 points, a team-high five steals, four assists and three rebounds in his 29 minutes.

The backcourt of graduate student Brian Dawson and junior Will Cranston-Lown rounded out the Regis players in double-figures with 13 points and 11 points, respectively.

Freshman forward Brayden Carter led all Rangers with six rebounds to go with his nine points on 4-of-7 shooting off the bench.

Regis shot a sizzling 54% (28-of-52) from the floor on Tuesday, including 8-of-20 (40%) from 3-point range. The Rangers were also automatic at the free-throw line, shooting 22-of-24 (92%).

UP NEXT: Regis advances to the RMAC Tournament semi-final on Friday where it will square off against No. 2 seed Colorado Mesa University (24-8 overall), which defeated MSU Denver, 77-65, on Tuesday. No. 1 seed Black Hills State University will serve as the RMAC Tournament semi-final and final host site in Spearfish, S.D.

The Mavericks won the first two meetings of the regular season against the Rangers, who improved to 9-5 on the road this season and will be looking to notch road win No. 10 come Friday. A tip-off time for Friday's game inside the Donald E. Young Center had not yet been set as of Tuesday evening.

"We probably couldn't be feeling any more confident than we are right now. We know we're a good road team, we've shown that through the course of the season, and we have some of our swagger back if we ever lost any of that," Bergeson said. "For us to be under siege on the road, and be able to step up to make big plays in big moments, was great to see because that's the kind of thing this team has been able to do a lot this year. The fact we did it again tonight tells me we're exactly in the right place we need to be, mentally and physically, and we expect to go out and play well on Friday."

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