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Salt Lake, Western Nebraska Hand Team First Losses of the Season
Few coaches will tell you that there’s any such thing as a good loss, but Northwest College head men’s basketball coach Andy Ward was trying to look on the bright side after his team suffered its first defeats of the 2011-12 season.
“There were some good things we could take from the games, but it was definitely disappointing not to be able to hang on and get the wins,” Ward said.
Northwest, which began last week ranked No. 19 nationally, saw a five-point cushion melt away in the final four minutes against No. 9 Salt Lake as the team eventually fell 83-72. The Trappers also lost 84-76 to Western Nebraska before wrapping up the weekend with an 88-67 victory over Laramie County Community College.
“Both losses were really kind of mirror images of each other,” Ward said. “We dug ourselves into a hole early in both cases.”
The Trappers were down by double digits in the early going against Salt Lake, prompting Ward to scrap the team’s man-to-man defense and go with a zone look. The change worked as Northwest was able to gradually extricate itself from the deficit and carry a 38- 36 lead into the locker room at halftime.
Northwest continued to pull away in the early minutes of second half play. The Trappers led by as many as nine, according to Ward, before Salt Lake mounted a rally in the game’s final 10 minutes.
“They went on a pretty big run,” said Ward. “We didn’t come away with a couple buckets we probably should have and then gave up some easy buckets going the other way and lost the lead. Then we had to start fouling to try and get back into it and they pulled away.”
Junior Coleman finished with 24 points for Northwest and was joined by three additional players in double figures. Diego Pasos hauled down nine rebounds as the Trappers could at least find solace in the knowledge that they were the first team to out-rebound Salt Lake this season.
Over the weekend, the Trappers saw action in Scottsbluff, Neb., and, early on, found little luck. Northwest led host Western Nebraska by a 40-35 count at halftime, only to watch the host school rally back behind a largely six-man playing rotation for an 84-76 win.
“We probably didn’t do enough to make them go to their bench,” Ward said. “Their interior players really hurt us, and then we didn’t do a good job on their leading scorer in the second half. He went off for 17 in the second half and you can’t let players like that get going on you.”
Chris Hansen finished with 26 points for Northwest while Coleman chipped in with 18. Jeffrey Solarin pulled down 10 rebounds.
Western Nebraska’s starting five played all but 38 of the 200 possible minutes in the game.
Finding themselves in unfamiliar territory, the Trappers snapped the two-game skid in impressive fashion as the team came out and shut down Laramie County Community College on Saturday by an 88- 67 margin.
“That was our best defensive effort of the trip,” Ward said. “Obviously, the score shows that, but the score doesn’t always show the full story. We really held them down in field goal percentage, which was something we hadn’t done in the two games we lost on the trip.”
Four Trappers finished in double figures for Northwest in the contest, led by Hansen and Solarin, each with 15 points. Pasos hauled down 10 boards while Coleman dished out five assists.
The Trappers were at Central Wyoming on Wednesday night to begin Region IX play. The team hosts Sheridan College on Saturday for its final game of the 2011 calendar. Tip-off in the women’s game is 3 p.m., with the men’s game going at approximately 5 p.m. A Trapper tailgate will take place during the second half of the women’s game and between contests at Cabre Gymnasium.
SALT LAKE 83, NORTHWEST 72
Jeffrey Solarin 14, Junior Coleman 24, Chris Hansen 15, Ty Ackelson 3, Guilherme Carabagiale 4, Zach Stanley 2, Pietro de Andrade 10.
W. NEBRASKA 84, NORTHWEST 76
Jeffrey Solarin 2, Junior Coleman 18, Konner Frey 4, Chris Hansen 26, Ty Ackelson 5, Guilherme Carabagiale 11, Zach Stanley 5, Pietro de Andrade 5.
NORTHWEST 88, LARAME CO. 67
Jeffrey Solarin 15, Junior Coleman 10, Konner Frey 5, Chris Hansen 15, Diego Pasos 7, Ty Ackelson 5, Guilherme Carabagiale 12, Italo de Oliveria 3, Pietro de Andrade 6, Jonathan Wakelin 2, Hudson Filho 3, Jeremy Beehler 5.