Your future, our focus
Sophomore Guard Released From Team
The Northwest College men’s basketball team put itself in position to beat the top two teams in the Region IX North before late game letdowns led to a pair of double-digit losses.
The Trappers lost to No. 4 Gillette 103-80 at home on Saturday and 98-83 at Casper on Jan. 27 to fall to 13-10 overall and 4-4 in the North.
“I’ll take the blame for it,” said NWC head coach Brian Erickson. “We didn’t come out prepared for the second half. Somehow we got to find a little bit more inspiration for 40 minutes.”
Erickson said the Trappers were too quick to abandon the team-oriented play that earned them four straight wins prior to last week. When the moments mattered most, they reverted to the ball-stopping, isolation-oriented basketball they played in the beginning of the season.
For the second straight meeting, Northwest played Gillette to a dead heat, 38-38, in the first half, but couldn’t replicate the performance in the second half.
“It starts with me, leading them, and then having the leadership out on the court,” Erickson said. “I think we’ll be all right. We’ve made some strides in that direction. Hopefully we’ll be there for sure by tournament time.”
The Trappers lost 77-64 to the Pronghorns on Jan. 9 after going into halftime tied at 31-31.
In both games, Gillette began the second half with a 12-0 run.
“The energy was just dead, on our bench and guys playing,” Erickson said. “I hate losing, but that’s more disappointing than the loss, not being able to have that energy.”
Northwest called a timeout after the Pronghorns scored the first five points of the second half, but Gillette kept on rolling on the other side of the stoppage. The Pronghorns hit back-to-back threes to push their lead to 50-38.
NWC freshman Sukhjot Bains pulled down a defensive rebound and took the ball coast-to-coast to pull the Trappers within nine points five minutes into the period, andhit a three for the Trappers’ only points during a 13-3 Pronghorn run that put them up 69-49.
“You’ve got to hand it to Gillette. They’re No. 4 in the nation for a reason,” Erickson said.
Bains scored 15 points and tied with Levi Londole for a team-high seven rebounds. Grantham Gillard led the Trappers in scoring in both games. The freshman guard scored 22 against Gillette and 23 in Casper. He totaled nine rebounds across the two losses.
Gillette was led by sophomore Kavell Bigby- Williams, a 6-10 forward who leads the nation in blocked shots (6.3 per game) and is third in rebounding (13.2). On Saturday, however, Bigby-Williams was a scorer. The London, England, product led all players with 36 points, 15 rebounds and five blocks.
“He’s an All-American, he’s a stud,” Erickson said.
Bigby-Williams doesn’t possess the same long-range shooting ability of former Trapper and current Oregon Ducks starter Chris Boucher, but his impact on the game is as forceful.
“They’re similar on both ends, (Bigby-Williams) kind of dominates rebounds, can score, changes shots, block shots,” Erickson said. “They’re different though, Chris could step out, this kid has a better back-to-the basket game.”
Northwest attempted to limit Bigby-Williams with a zone defense, but, as with the offense, the Trappers didn’t move quickly enough as one to stop him from dominating by the basket.
“Being able to stop him was one of our big keys, and we didn’t,” Erickson said. “We didn’t really make good enough help-side rotations to stop him.”
Londole added 12 points, seven rebounds and two assists for Northwest while fellow freshman Joel Maumba scored 15 points to go with four rebounds and four steals.
The Trappers held on much longer in the second half against the Thunderbirds (16-7, 6-2), who didn’t secure their final lead until the final six minutes of the game.
“We made a good run and five, six minutes to go we’re up by two,” Erickson said. “We played really well from about the 15 minute mark to the five minute mark.”
But in those final five minutes, the Trappers couldn’t figure out how to extend their lead and close out a win.
“We started just forcing the ball and going one-on-one,” Erickson said. “Just kind of fell apart as a team those last couple minutes.”
Casper was led by 25 points from Gerad Davis and 23 from LJ Westbrook. The duo combined to shoot 50 percent from the field and 15-for-17 from the free throw line.
“Those two played really well and just beat us up. Especially when they kept attacking and we got into foul trouble,” Erickson said.
After Gillard’s 23, Bains added 18 points, nine rebounds and five blocks, and Londole had 13 points and six boards.
Jordy Telfort and freshman Damon Leach had nine points apiece.
“That’s one of the best games that he’s played,” Erickson said of Leach. “He scored the basketball when he got it. He played big and physical.”
Northwest’s physical play was a bright spot against Casper though it didn’t carry over to the game against Gillette. Erickson said Northwest could use its size to its advantage in the final weeks of the season.
“We were so physical in that game our guys started understanding that that’s something we can build off of,” Erickson said.
GUARD IN, GUARD OUT
Telfort’s nine points against Casper was his most since returning from injury on Jan. 16, and Erickson said he expects the guard to be able to contribute more down the stretch.
Telfort had fluid drained from his knee on Tuesday and shouldn’t have any more problems going forward, Erickson said.
“I think we should be good to go with Jordy, maybe not back to where he was (before the injury) but getting more playing time,” he said.
Telfort scored 29 points, the most from a Trapper all season, on Oct. 31.
Telfort’s reemergence into the rotation will counter the loss of sophomore Garrison Gillard, who was released from the Trappers on Monday.
Erickson would not go into specifics, saying only that it was a “coach’s decision.”
“We’re going to move on and go from there,” Erickson said.
Gillard was suspended for two games on Jan. 13 and Jan. 16, and did not play despite suiting up on Jan. 21. He played sparingly in Northwest’s three games since.