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Late Run Lifts Defending Regional Champs Past Northwest
The Northwest College Trappers saw a late-season run through the Region IX tournament come screeching to a halt in the second half of their Tuesday night contest against Otero. The defending Region IX champion Rattlers used a 10-0 run midway through the second half to eliminate Northwest 75-63.
The loss came just 24 hour after the Trappers delivered one of their best performances of the season, defeating top-seeded and tournament host Casper College, 80-74, on Monday night.
The sophomore tandem of Jeffrey Solarin and Junior Coleman each finished with 16 points for Northwest, but the Trappers struggled overall on offense. Northwest connected for just 38.1 percent of its shots from the field.
The contest started poorly for the Trappers as Solarin, a former national player of the week and the team’s leading scorer and rebounder this season, picked up a pair of early fouls and was forced to sit for more than 12 of the first half’s 20 minutes. In his absence, the Trappers rallied around a host of players to keep the game close. The Rattlers’ 34-30 halftime lead was the team’s largest of the first half.
The Trappers reclaimed the lead early in the second half, but the decisive moment came just after the 11-minute mark. Leading 45-43, Northwest watched as its offense went suddenly cold from the field. The Rattlers embarked on a 10-point run, taking control of the game.
Northwest managed one small attack at Otero’s lead, only to see another string of unanswered points lift the Rattlers to an advantage they were never able to challenge. The 12-point final margin was also one of Otero’s largest leads in the contest and was owed partially to a stellar 15-for-19 free throw shooting display by the Rattlers.
Coleman and Solarin were the only Trappers to end their night in double figures. Jonothan Newsom added nine points while Guilherme Carabagiale had seven points and a team-best nine rebounds.
The game marked the first time since 2007 that the Trappers had made an appearance in the Region IX semifinals. The team lost in overtime to Northeastern that season.
The defeat came just 24 hours after the Trappers produced a stunning 80-74 win over Casper College on its home floor. Northwest knocked down nearly 70 percent of its shots in the contest, including a second half in which the team misfired on just one attempt from the field.
The hot shooting performance was required to shake off the negative effects of 33 turnovers in the game. In addition to a hot hand at the offensive end of the floor, Northwest held Casper to less than 33 percent shooting from the floor. That included a frigid 7-for-32 display from behind the 3-point rack for the T-Birds.
Solarin finished with 23 points and nine rebounds to lead the Trappers to their second win over Casper this season and team victory No. 22 for the season. Gary Gordon added 17 points while Coleman finished with 13 points and Gabe Solarin had 12 points.
With the semifinal loss, the Trappers wrap up interim head coach Brian Erickson’s first season at the helm with a 22-11 overall record.