It took two overtimes to decide a winner Thursday night. The Mustangs had the advantage at halftime, 44-29, over the visiting Fort Lewis College Skyhawks, but points in the paint allowed Fort Lewis to tie things up after regulation. Knotted after one overtime, the Skyhawks used their size again to edge past WNMU in the second OT. The Skyhawks got the victory, 90-87.

WNMU posted their first home loss of the season. They drop to 6-9 overall and 5-3 in the RMAC. Fort Lewis improves to 14-3 and 8-1 in conference play.

The Mustangs were strong all around in the first half. They shot 50.0 percent from the floor and hit 6 of 14 shots from the arc. They also were a perfect 10 for 10 from the charity stripe. Off the bench, Chuck Kempf (Chicago, IL, Lakes High School, Trinidad Junior College) hit three of his four three-point attempts, and Stefan Mirabal (Albuquerque, NM, Sandia High School) went 5 for 5 from the floor.

A good WNMU first half was capped off with a three from Eli Crevelone (Tucson, AZ, Canyon Del Oro High School) when the buzzer sounded. The Mustangs had their largest lead of the night, 15, when they walked into the locker room.

In the second half, the Skyhawks found a way to penetrate the paint and record 26 points in the paint alone. They also hit back-to-back threes with seven minutes left to play to shave the Mustang lead to just four.

The Skyhawks took only their second lead of the game with 2:02 left in regulation. DeAndre Lansdowne hit a jumper to go up 65-64, but WNMU's TJ Riley (Tyler, TX, Chapel Hill High School, Lamar University) found Crevelone in the paint with 40 seconds remaining to go up by one again.

The Mustangs had difficulty grabbing a rebound in the final six ticks of regulation. The Skyhawks took two shots and posted two offensive rebounds. Finally, Fort Lewis' Matt Morris was fouled and put on the line. He missed the first attempt but drained the second to tie the game at 66 after the first 40 minutes.

The first overtime went much the same way as regulation did. With the Mustangs up, 75-73, Fort Lewis fired off two jumpers and got two offensive rebounds with 40 seconds left. They then tied the game five seconds later with a deuce in the paint by Kyle Behrens. The Mustangs could not score on their final possession.

In the second overtime, Fort Lewis netted the first five points, but Chad Carter (Tucson, AZ, Ironwood Ridge High School) brought the Mustangs back within one after spectacular free throw shooting. He hit six consecutive charity points in just over a one minute period.

Down 85-81 with 1:27 left to play, WNMU head coach Mark Coleman called for a substitution and brought in Crevelone. The sub was a success as he drained a three with 1:06 left on the clock. A Skyhawk jumper in the paint and three good free throws made the deficit too large to overcome for the Mustangs. Mirabal hit a three with five seconds left, but the crowd was already headed out the door.

Mirabal finished with 21 points and nine rebounds. Carter pitched in with 15 points. Eight of those came from the free throw line. Crevelone and Riley followed with 13 and 12 points respectively.

Justin Williams (Phoenix, AZ, Paradise Valley High School, Phoenix College) chipped in with six assists. All seven of his points came from the charity stripe.

The Mustangs shot 36.5 percent from the floor and 84.6 percent from the free throw line. The Skyhawks recorded 46.3 percent shooting from the field and had 60 points in the paint compared to WNMU's meager 30.

Fort Lewis' Morris finished with 28 points and 13 rebounds in his 46 minutes of play.

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