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Hansen’s Buzzer-Beater Lifts Trappers Over Casper
Chris Hansen’s driving bucket with one second left lifted the Northwest College Trappers to a big 74-73 road win at Casper College. It also provided the Trappers with the first half of a big two-victory week on the hardwood that keeps the team in the running for a top finish in the Region IX North. Northwest also posted an 82- 73 win over Miles in Saturday basketball action at Cabre Gymnasium.
“Those were two huge wins for us,” said Trapper men’s basketball coach Andy Ward after Saturday’s home win, which lifted Northwest’s season record to 20-7 overall. “That keeps us in a position to fight for that No. 1 or No. 2 seed going into the tournament. We’re going to need some things to go our way, but this keeps us in the mix.”
The Trappers are currently fourth in the Region IX North standings, two games in back of Sheridan. Casper and Miles also remain in front of Northwest in the standings with three games remaining.
In Casper, the Trappers grabbed a slim 43-39 lead in the first half, but appeared in trouble after turning the ball over in the final minute. With the shot clock turned off, Northwest was in the process of trying to chase down Casper to deliver a foul when the unthinkable happened.
“We had two guys trying to run him down and foul,” Ward said of the sequence. “That left one of their guys wide open pretty much under the basket. So they went to pass it to the guy for what would have been an easy layup and completely air-mailed the pass.”
With the basketball sailing high and out of bounds, the Trappers found themselves in an unexpected position to once again try and work for a final shot.
“We ran what we call a power play and we were able to get the ball to Chris driving to the bucket and he put the shot in with one second remaining,” Ward said.
Hansen and Junior Coleman both ended with 14 points to lead the Trappers in the contest. Guilherme Carabagiale added 13 points and Jeffrey Solarin finished with 12 points as Northwest used balanced scoring to avenge an earlier five-point loss to the T-Birds.
“We did a good job rebounding the ball down there,” Ward said.
Northwest held a 37-32 edge on the glass, led by Diego Pasos’ eight boards. Pasos, like Hansen, had missed the Trappers’ previous game while healing from an ankle injury.
On Saturday, the Trappers got the chance to avenge another loss as they looked to pay back Miles for a 14-point road loss earlier in the year. Northwest jumped to an early lead thanks to the strength of its transition play and a flurry of outside shooting that saw the team drain five of its first 10 attempts from 3-point range.
Miles rallied late in the half, using much the same formula the Trappers had and knocking down some late 3-point buckets to send the teams into the locker room tied at 42-42.
After a rugged start to the second half, Northwest began to pull away as Miles was unable to match its first-half shooting performance from behind the arc. The Trappers also hammered the ball into the paint, drawing numerous free throw opportunities.
In fact, the difference at the foul stripe held the key to the game’s outcome. Northwest knocked down 15 of 19 second-half attempts at the charity stripe. Miles made the trip to the line just five times and converted only two of the opportunities.
The Trappers also held a huge advantage on the rebounding glass. Northwest outrebounded Miles by a 47- 34 margin in the game.
“That was one of the keys for us,” said Ward. “We wanted to limit their opportunities and also get rebounds so we could push it up the floor and really attack in transition before they had a chance to set up and do the things they want to do defensively.”
Hansen finished with 22 points and nine rebounds to lead the Trappers in scoring. Solarin added 21 points and 10 boards as he notched yet another double-double this season. Pasos added 12 points and eight rebounds.
The Trappers travel to Western Wyoming on Wednesday before returning to Powell to close out the regular season with home games against Gillette on Saturday and Dawson next Tuesday.
“It will be tough to go down to Western and play, but hopefully we can finish the season strong,” said Ward. “These wins give us a very good shot at a high finish, maybe still the No. 1 or No. 2 seed, if things go our way and we take care of business these next three.”
The Trappers used a big second half to score an 11-point win over Western Wyoming when the two teams met in Powell last month.
NORTHWEST 74, CASPER 73
Jeffrey Solarin 12, Junior Coleman 14, Konner Frey 1, Chris Hansen 14, Diego Pasos 7, Ty Ackelson 8, Guilherme Carabagiale 13, Zach Stanley 5.
NORTHWEST 82, MILES 73
Jeffrey Solarin 21, Junior Coleman 9, Konner Frey 7, Chris Hansen 22, Diego Pasos 12, Ty Ackelson 5, Zach Stanley 5, Jonathan Wakelin 1.