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Gillette College Rides Big First Period Over Northwest
Sophomore Kyle Brown scored a game-high 32 points, but it wasn’t enough to get the Trapper men to the finish line at home against Western Wyoming Community College last week.
The Mustangs broke away from a 47-all tie at halftime, outscored the Trappers by double the rest of the way and left Cabre Gym with a 109-78 victory on Jan. 15.
The Trappers’ record stands at 9-11 (1-4 in Region IX) after a 111-92 loss to Gillette College on the road Saturday.
Against Western Wyoming, Northwest gave as good as it got in the first 20 minutes, including 21 points from Brown by halftime.
The Trappers came out white-hot: a bucket from Max Dehon, two quick threes by Brown, a third from Alan Swenson and the Mustangs found themselves on the wrong side of the scoreboard trailing 11-2.
Dehon, Rambo Badyal and Josh Petteno all hit threes in the early going, but the giant finally awakened and eventually pulled ahead, 33-32. Another Badyal three, a two from Brown and one from Seth Mason — give the assist to Badyal — had Coach Jay Collins’ men up 44-37.
A run of 10 unanswered points by the Mustangs, however, had them up three until Petteno’s 3-pointer in the final seconds forged the halftime tie.
The Trappers were still within two at 63-61 on a Badyal three deep in the second half. By the time the clock showed 8:00, though, Northwest was down 10. The game was not in doubt the rest of the way.
It didn’t help that the Trappers were outrebounded 40-26.
“It was a game up until seven minutes to go,” said Collins. With the Mustangs on a tear, the coach opted for something of a high-risk “desperation mode” as the clock wound down: Why not throw caution to the wind seeking a win than play just to keep it close?
“There are no extra points for covering the spread,” Collins said.
Brown obviously played well, he said, “and Rambo (Badyal) off the bench gave us a nice spark.”
In Saturday’s matchup against Gillette College, the Antelopes jumped out to a 57-40 halftime lead. However, the Trappers went blow-for-blow in the second half, scoring 52 points to Gillette’s 54.
Brown led the Trappers with 21 points and four assists, Petteno added 17 and both Jerome Mabry and Alan Swenson scored 10.
Northwest visited Central Wyoming College in Riverton on Wednesday night and will host Casper College Saturday at 7 p.m.
Western Wyoming — Prim 20, Blaiz 18, Trost 17, Ayol 16, Cisse 16, Duhart 9, Marble 7, Olson 2, Pierce 2, Boley 2.
Northwest College — Brown 32, Badyal 15, Petteno 10, Dehon 9, Swenson 5, Mason 4, Goss 2, Mabry 1.
Northwest College — Brown 21, Petteno 17, Badyal 15, Mabry 10, Swenson 10. Mason 6, Goss 5, Dehon 5, Schilder 3.
Gillette College — Solomon 21, Mushila 19, Eisa 15, Archambault 14, Jones 14, McKeithan 8, Akhile 6, Gumber 5, Felisma 4, Coke 4, Hayden 2.