Your future, our focus
Trapper Coaches say They Have Better Feel for Their Teams Now
Both coaches of Northwest College’s basketball teams expected to learn more about their teams on Friday and Saturday.
After the Trapper men and women each split their first two games of the regular season, there were plenty of lessons to go around.
Coach Brian Erickson’s Trapper men defeated Eastern Wyoming College 97-91 at the Wyobraska Tournament in Torrington on Halloween. But a day later, a high-scoring offense wasn’t enough for the NWC men, as Western Nebraska Community College of Scottsbluff, Neb., claimed a 111-107 overtime win.
For Janis Beal and the NWC women, the season started with a tough 83-66 loss to Bismarck State College at the Miles Community College Tournament in Miles City, Mont., on Friday but the Trappers rebounded with a 77-55 rout of Rocky Mountain College’s junior varsity Saturday.
With both teams returning to action this week, Erickson and Beal came away from the weekend with better understandings of their teams.
“The main thing was being able to see some of our weaknesses and learn what we need to work on moving forward,” Beal said of her squad. “Overall, Friday exposed some weaknesses in our defense, and showed there are definitely things we needed to work on. Saturday, we showed some improvement and that we learned from our previous mistakes.”
Erickson saw his men unleash a high-powered offense on Friday and Saturday, but saw a need for improved defense.
“Before that first game, I told our guys that if we could score 90 to 100 points, we could win,” Erickson said.
“90 points in the last few years, I don’t think that would’ve been enough but our defense did its part at the end,” he said. “But against Western Nebraska, we didn’t play consistent defense and it sort of got us at the end.”
Defense was an issue for the NWC women in game one as the Trappers allowed Bismarck freshman Lachelle Bumgarner to drain 24 points, including five 3-pointers. Sophomore MacKayla Feeney added 18 points to the cause as BSC pulled away. Sophomores Dana Bjorhus and Caitlin Clancy scored 14 points each for NWC, and Clancy also tied for the game high with eight rebounds.
Beal was disappointed in her team’s inability to guard on the perimeter, as Bismarck knocked down 14 3-pointers. But she praised the Trappers for an improvement against Rocky Mountain.
“One thing is we have to defend on the perimeter better. Those 14 3-pointers from Bismarck really hurt us,” Beal said. “But the girls knew that and made some adjustments on Saturday, and the result was much better.”
Better outside defense from NWC limited Rocky Mountain to just five treys, and Clancy made her own presence felt beyond the arc. She made good on three 3-pointers while collecting 20 points and eight rebounds. Freshman Aubree Porter provided a spark in nearly 16 minutes of play, scoring 14 points with four treys of her own.
“There’s depth here,” Beal said. “That was evident from both games. Everybody that played scored, and I think that shows that we’re deep. Everybody can contribute.”
In light of the Trapper men’s win-one, lose-one effort over the weekend, Erickson received contributions from a slew of Trappers.
Against Eastern Wyoming, five NWC players reached double digits in scoring. Sophomore Colin May led his team with 19 points, followed by 15 each from fellow sophomores and best friends Chris Boucher and William Desilien. Daryle Morgan chipped in 13 points and EJ Hubbard had 10. Morgan and Boucher tied for the team lead with five rebounds.
“With none of my teams in the past have I felt so comfortable pushing the ball so much,” Erickson said. “But I feel like we have a lot of players who can do damage from the outside on this team, and a lot of guys who can find their shot and score.”
The Trapper men were given a reality check on defense against Western Nebraska, as NWC saw a 17-point lead vanish in the final 10 minutes of play to set up overtime.
Contributing to the NWC breakdown was the fact that numerous regulars found foul trouble early, forcing reserves to step up. Boucher was limited to just 13 minutes thanks to early first-half fouls, but still managed 20 points and nine rebounds.
With point guards May, Desilien and Hubbard all riding the pine thanks to fouls, freshman Ammar Rehmen was called upon despite his lack of experience running the point, and erupted for 28 points and four 3-pointers.
“Your first three point guards are in foul trouble, and here comes a kid with zero reps at point guard, and he basically comes up big in the first half and keeps us going,” Erickson said of Rehman. “So I’m pretty proud of him for stepping up.”
In light of the foul issues, NWC was still ahead by seven with just over three minutes to play, and two with 25 seconds left. But the Trappers missed the first of a 1-and-1 free throw opportunity, and WNCC moved down the court and scored to force OT. Five Trappers in all fouled out for the game, as WNCC owned the foul edge 40- 20, and shot 67 free throws (52 made) to NWC’s 22.
Still, Erickson was pleased with the Trappers’ resiliency despite the tough breaks.
“When four starters foul out and you still have an opportunity to win it, you need some guys to step up and that happened against Western Nebraska,” Erickson said. “Ultimately, we lost a game but we had a chance to win. Especially on the road, we’re going to have that kind of adversity that we’ll have to work through. The guys learned that this weekend.”
The Trapper men return to action with a 7:30 p.m. road game tonight (Thursday) against Dawson Community College in Glendive, Mont.
The NWC women will hit the court on Friday and Saturday for games against Utah State University-Eastern (6 p.m. Friday) and Snow College (2 p.m. Saturday) in the Snow College Tournament in Ephraim, Utah.