Your future, our focus
A second loss at Western Wyoming Community College in a week’s time ended the Trapper men’s basketball season with nine wins and 22 losses.
The Northwest College men dropped their final regular-season contest to the powerhouse Mustangs (27-4) in Rock Springs on Feb. 22. Then came another setback when Region IX postseason tournament seeding sent the Coach Jay Collins and his Trappers right back to Western Wyoming on Saturday where they were turned back 84-57.
The first half set the tone when the Mustangs put up 44 points to Northwest’s 25. The second 20 minutes went to Western by eight, 40-32.
Northwest struggled in league play and ended the season with a run of 13 straight defeats.
The Trappers were led against Western by sophomore Kyle Brown, the team’s top scorer throughout the season, with 16 points. Max Dehon netted 14 and super-sub Rambo Badyal cracked double digits with 11.
In the New Yorker City Trapper’s final game, Brown hit 5-14 from the field, 1-4 from three and missed just one of six chances at the line. Dehon hit a pair of threes and Badyal was 3-8 outside the arc.
Venice, Italy, sharpshooter Josh Petteno and inside muscle man Jerome Mabry were collared by the Western defense to the tune of two points each. Petteno hit 1-12 (0-9 from three) and Mabry got two free throws.
The Trappers were 13-15 and the Mustangs 7-11 at the charity stripe.
LaChaun Duhart matched Brown’s 16 for the Mustangs.
Western shot 47.2% from all distances and 26.5% on 3-pointers. The Trappers’ numbers were 29.7% and 17.6%.
Northwest suffered a chilling 25-rebound disadvantage under the glass, where the Mustangs snatched 59 rebounds for themselves to the Trappers’ 34.
Next year’s NWC team will be without the services of sophomores Brown, Dehon, Badyal, Mysen McArthur, Seth Mason and Axel Hohenstein. However, three freshmen who redshirted this season will be up and ready to contribute in 2020-2021.
Western 84, Northwest 57
Northwest — Brown 16, Dehon 14, Badyal 11, McArthur 6, Alan Swenson 4, Mabry 2, Petteno 2, Hohenstein 2.
Western — Duhart 16, Trost 11, Pierce 10, Ayol 9, Prim 9, Blaize 9, Boley 8, Cisse 4, Stoeger 3, Marble 3, Olson 2.