Your future, our focus
When Dan Milota was inserted into last week’s Miles Community College game late in the first half, fans applaudded and Milota noticed.
It was welcome-back clapping from Northwest College basketball fans for the hustling center who had been sidelined for a month by a knee operation.
As promised, Milota beat the odds from mid-season surgery to return to the Trappers’ lineup before the end of the regular season, never a sure bet with a knee injury.
“It was a great feeling,” Milota said of being acknowledged. “I missed them too.”
Milota was even missed by teammates and the coaching staff.
The Trappers lost to Miles 89-70 at home and then lost last Saturday 80-65 to Western Wyoming in Rock Springs.
Northwest, which has just one home game remaining Saturday versus Sheridan, is 15-13. Depending on how things break during this last week of the regular season, it is still possible for Northwest to host a Region IX playoff game at the end of the month as it defends its 2015 title.
A 6-foot-7 sophomore from the Czech Republic, Milota was the main holdover with playing time from last year’s 31-5 team. Milota was a rock solid presence in the post, scoring inside and rebounding. But the Trappers have struggled since he was forced out of the lineup, and although he is back he is not 100 percent.
While sidelined, Milota did pushups and lifted weights and pushed himself to return.
“Man it was great,” he said of getting in a game, even though he played limited minutes.
Milota had 3 points and 2 rebounds in 13 minutes against Miles and 4 points, 1 rebound and 2 assists versus Western. Overall, Milota is averaging 11.3 points and 4.7 rebounds a game.
“I think he really helped us,” said coach Brian Erickson, of Milota’s on-court energy against Miles. “For sure I thought he gave us a little spark. He’s in good enough shape to play, I’ll tell you that. He has pushed himself above and beyond [to come back].”
The Miles game was otherwise not memorable for the Trappers. Levi Londole scored 15 points, Joel Maumba had 13 and Sukhjot Bains added 10.
Overall, the Trappers were sluggish and shot just 39.7 percent from the field.
“Defensively, we kind of fell way from our concepts and offensively we didn’t attack them,” Erickson said. “I told them, ‘We’re at the end of the year and we’ve got two roads we can take. What are you guys going to decide?’”
Against Western the Trappers got a good performance from Jordyson Telfort, who like Milota had an in-season knee surgery.
Telfort scored 7 points in 18 minutes. Northwest was led by Grantham Gillard with 21 points and Bains with 11.