Your future, our focus
For a team that only a couple of weeks ago was kicking itself for all of the mistakes it was making when it knew it was better than that, the Northwest College men’s basketball team has learned fast.
By sweeping past two opponents last weekend the Trappers have a five-game winning streak going entering a Tuesday night home game against Rocky Mountain College’s junior varsity.
On a two-game road trip to Sheridan for the Lions Club Tournament, the Trappers bested Dakota College 81-68 on Friday and Williston State 63-57 on Saturday. The victories over the North Dakota schools raised Northwest’s record to 5-3 and came despite two of the team’s starters being out with injuries.
“Five wins in a row is pretty nice,” said Northwest guard Blake Hinze of Cody, who scored 16 points against Dakota. “We are getting better. We still have a long ways to go, but we’ll be a good team.”
The Trappers achieved without starting point guard Jonathan Koud in either game because of an ankle injury and top forward Sukhjot Bains out for the second game after he injured a foot against Dakota. Bains scored 10 points in that game before leaving the court.
Coach Brian Erickson was pleased his players rallied to make up for the sidelined players.
“We’ve got to do this by committee,” he said of the need for bench players to step in and become difference-makers. “We played really well. It was a good win over a good team (Williston) with 30 points a game on the bench.”
The Trappers received notable outside shooting performances from two players who torched the opposition with 3-point shots. Guard Skyler Zabriskie made four long-range jumpers against Dakota and scored 15 points. His output was nearly identical Saturday with 16 points, also hitting four 3-pointers in that game.
Luc Lombardy, a 6-foot-6 freshman from Villeurbanne, France, who struggled with his shot in the early games, broke out with two solid scoring efforts over the weekend. Lombardy pumped in 12 points in each game and all of his scoring accumulated on 3-pointers.
“He’s a good shooter, but he hadn’t shot it well,” Erickson said of Lombardy.
Forward Levi Londale added 10 points.
In the Dakota game, Hinze and Londale each scored 8 points, center Damon Leach totaled 9 points and 11 rebounds, and guard Seth Bennett from Meeteetse contributed 4 points.
“Everyone is involved,” Hinze said of the Trappers. “It’s fun. The whole bench is involved. We have a different high scorer every game.”
The Trappers will go for a sixth win in a row at Cabre Gym at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday versus Rocky. The Northwest women, off since Nov. 19, meet the Rocky Mountain JV at 5:30 p.m.
Hinze said although the Trappers have played well recently, they really did not seem to completely jell until the second half of the second half against Williston.
“I think it just started clicking in the last 10 or 15 minutes,” he said.