Your future, our focus
The Northwest College men’s team overcame some early-season nerves to go 2-0 at the Miles Community College Tournament over the weekend.
The Trappers trailed at the half of both their games, before holding both Bismarck State and Rocky Mountain JV to 25 points each in the second half.
Head coach Brian Erickson said his team faced different struggles in each game.
“A lot of our new guys really did play hesitant,” Erickson said. “Here in a couple weeks all those nerves are gone and we’re on the same page.”
The Trappers spent the first half of Friday’s 70-67 win against Bismarck figuring out how to play defense according to new rules that aim to crack down on hand checks, arm bars, and any over-physical play from defenders.
Northwest went into half down 42-34.
“It’s going to be a lot tighter,” the coach said. “We got to make some adjustments this week to try to change from how the officials are going to call it.”
Two Trappers were called for four fouls against Bismarck while another four were called for three.
Led by sophomore point guard Gary Gordon, the Trappers came back to outscore the Mystics 36-25 to close out the win.
Gordon scored 15 points and grabbed 12 rebounds, both team highs. Gordon also recorded two blocks, one assist and one steal while committing four turnovers.
Freshman Lawrence Fejokwu had a double-double in the first game wearing red and white. Fejokwu scored 14 points on 6-for- 13 shooting and pulled down 10 boards, but foul trouble limited him to just 18 minutes.
Sophomore K.J. Rech shot 6-of-10 from the floor for 14 points and had eight rebounds.
Tyler Chandler contributed eight points and six rebounds in 19 minutes. The 6-foot, 3-inch red shirt freshman is undersized for the forward spot, but Erickson said he is still able to match up well with taller post players.
“He’s a tough, strong kid,” Erickson said. “He can guard a 6’6” kid that’s 50 pounds heavier than him because he’s so strong.”
The team shot 0-for-13 from 3-point range.
“Our guards did not shoot it well,” Erickson said. “But I believe in them that they will knock those down.”
Against Rocky on Saturday, Erickson said his team just wasn’t up to the task early on.
“I don’t think (the Trappers) were ready to play in that second game in the first half,” Erickson said.
Northwest trailed 42-40 at half.
“By the second half they were focused in on it,” Erickson said.
The coach said the offense executed much better in the second half and the defense came out much more active.
More foul trouble forced every Trapper to play meaningful minutes. Only Fejokwu (four fouls) played less than 10 minutes.
Erickson said some Northwest players may have been fooled by the “JV” label the Battlin’ Bears carry with them.
“It’s so early in the year some of our guys don’t understand you can’t overlook an opponent,” he said.
Gordon again led the offensive charge with 16 points on 6-of-10 shooting (4-of-5 from the stripe) and five rebounds.
Sophomore Franklin Uzonwanne scored 10 points and had a team high seven rebounds.
Freshman Andreas Bigum scored nine points, tallied four rebounds and had two assists in 20 minutes. The versatile Danish sophomore is still working on completing his offensive game.
“He’s still trying to figure out when to take shots, where to take shots,” Erickson said.
Sophomore Gabe Solarin scored nine points on 3-of-10 shooting, including 2-of-5 from deep. Solarin also had five rebounds.
Fejokwu added eight points (3-of-4 from the floor) and two rebounds.
Northwest hit four of its 13 3-point attempts and made 24 of 38 free throws.
The men will travel to Cheyenne this weekend for the Laramie County Community College Tournament. Northwest will take on the host Golden Eagles at 7 p.m. Friday and then play Eastern Wyoming at 2 p.m. Saturday.