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Host First Bank Of Wyoming shootout Friday, Saturday
One weekend and two more wins later, the Northwest College men’s basketball team appears fully recovered from its opening night loss to Laramie County.
The Trappers (3-1) beat the Bismarck State Mystics by 10 on Friday, and the United Tribes Technical College Thunderbirds by 24 on Saturday to make it three straight double-digit wins.
Northwest’s potent offense continued to be a team effort, as a second and third high-scorer led the Trappers to victory, and five scored in double figures over the weekend.
“Compared to last year, we’re different for sure,” said head coach Brian Erickson. “But I think we’re deeper in that way of we have some different guys who can score every night.”
Last year, Chris Boucher (22.5 points per game) and William Desillien (21.5) outscored the rest of the Trappers by at least 10 points. This year, Northwest’s attack is taking on a more balanced look.
In the Trappers’ three wins, Jordyson Telfort, Joel Tshimanga and Jordon Rood have each taken turns as the leading scorer.
“It’s nice to have,” Erickson said. “Joel played great the first game. Had a mismatch and really took advantage of it.”
The 6-foot-7 forward scored 25 points in Northwest’s 88-78 win at Bismarck. He also had a team-high eight rebounds, one steal and a block.
Rood, a 6-foot, 3-inch wing from Rock Springs scored 16 to lead Northwest in a 100-76 win against United Tribes that featured the Trappers most balanced offense of the young season.
Garrison Gillard (15), Daniel Milota (15) , Grantham Gillard (12) and Tshimanga (10) all scored in double figures, while Skyler Zabriskie and Sukhjot Bains each scored nine points.
“It was just a well-rounded weekend,” Erickson said. “We started playing better as a team. Being more unselfish.”
Erickson believes the freshmen-heavy team is showing progress in the season’s second week.
“They start figuring it out,” Erickson said. “We’ve got a lot of young guys coming out of high school and prep school who are starting to figure it out. You do have to run your offense. You do have to set your screen. You have to do more things the higher level that you go. You have to do it at a higher standard.”
Grantham Gillard had 15 points against Bismarck and Telfort, Rood and Levi Londole scored nine apiece.
The maturity and team play extended outside the realm of scoring, as the Trappers won the battle of the boards by a wide margin in each win.
Northwest earned advantages of 51-37 against United Tribes and 49- 34 against Bismarck.
“On both ends we really crashed the boards,” Erickson said. “That’s just guys going at the boards hard. Defensively, we’ve done a better job of boxing out and getting five guys being a part of it.”
While no Trapper had more than Tshimanga’s eight boards in either game, six had four or more at the Mystics and seven had at least four at the T-Birds.
“Our guards did a really good job of rebounding the basketball,” Erickson said. “That’s a difference. It’s not just our bigs getting every rebound.”
The Trappers will see the Mystics again during this weekend’s First Bank of Wyoming Shootout at Northwest College.
Erickson said he wants to see his team play Friday’s rematch like it played in the second half of last weekend’s win.
“When we played that first half, I felt like, and I told our guys in a timeout, ‘We played like the ball was on fire,’” Erickson said. “We were playing fast, we were playing high tempo, we were getting the ball up the court, we were attacking the rim, but then we got to the point where that ball was on fire. The first opportunity we had, we had to shoot it.”
The Trappers built a 40-36 halftime lead at the Mystics, but Erickson said they played their best basketball in the second half, and against the T-Birds the next day.
“We got to the point where we were out of control. We thought playing fast meant we had to shoot it fast,” Erickson said. “As we settled in, we were so much better. And I think we understood that because we did a much better job the next night.”
Northwest’s home opener is Friday at 7:30 p.m. against Bismarck, followed by a 5 p.m. game against Dawson (3-2) on Saturday.
Erickson said he wants his team to continue to rein in its wild streaks while maintaining a fast tempo.
“This week is going to be a great week for us to take another step in that direction, of running our secondary break, our fast break,” Erickson said.