DURANGO, Colo. - Brayden Johnson scored 16 points and Donaval Avila added 12 points off of the bench on 5-of-6 shooting as they each helped lead a late charge offensively for Westminster men's basketball (11-16, 9-12 RMAC) in a 77-69 loss at Fort Lewis (19-7, 15-5 RMAC) on Thursday night at Whalen Gymnasium.

Lewis Johnson added another 13 points for the Griffins on 5-of-10 shooting that included 3-of-5 from long range and Brayden Johnson finished with seven boards, two blocks and one steal to go along with his team-high scoring effort.  Taylor Miller continued to shoot well overall, finishing 6-of-8 from the field with 13 points and four rebounds and Yusuf Mohamed had five boards to help Westminster finish with a 38-33 rebounding edge.

Fort Lewis opened up a double-digit lead in the first half with a 16-2 run during a stretch where the Griffins went almost five full minutes between made field goals.  The Sky Hawks led by as many as 20 in the first half and carried an 18-point lead into the halftime break.

Westminster was held to just 10-of-32 (31 percent) from the field as a team in the first half while the Sky Hawks knocked down 7-of-15 three's and shot 52 percent as a team to start the game.

The Griffins came out of the break on a 13-2 run and held Fort Lewis to just 2-of-13 (15 percent) shooting to start the second half to get back within single digits.  After the slow start, however, Fort Lewis connected on five-straight field goals en route to a 12-0 run to take a game-high 21-point lead.

Trailing by that same 21-point margin, Avila hit a jumper to begin a 15-1 Westminster run that cut the deficit back down to single digits with 3:48 to play.  The Griffins would pour in another 13 points over the final 3:23, finding offense from multiple spots on the court, but Fort Lewis was able to answer with multiple three's down the stretch to close out the home win.

The Sky Hawks continue an eight-game win streak while the Griffins suffer a fifth-straight road loss as they get set to close out the regular season from the road.

Westminster will make its way to Gunnison, Colo., for its regular-season finale on Saturday night against Western Colorado, tipping-off at 7 p.m.

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