Your future, our focus
For the first time this fall, Northwest College men’s basketball had the opportunity to compete in a live setting over the weekend, hosting running-clock scrimmages at Cabre Gym.
The Trappers went 2-1 in their three contests on Saturday.
Northwest started the day with a back-and-forth battle against Dawson Community College. As time expired, Trapper sophomore Hayden Peterson sunk a 3-pointer to seal a 51-49 win.
Later that day, NWC faced Western Wyoming Community College in another contested scrimmage. But this time, Western Wyoming finished on top, 50-48.
Following that defeat, the Trappers played Dawson once more, this time winning more handily. Five 3-pointers from Jaren Fritz (17 points total) fueled the 57-45 victory.
One of NWC head coach Jay Collins’ main takeaways from the scrimmages was the team’s ability to work in several different lineups and still maintain success.
“We have tremendous depth,” Collins said. “It’s hard on me as a coach to search for who to play, but it’s also a good thing. The confirmation was our overall depth.”
Other bright spots in the exhibitions, Collins said, were the team’s productivity on the inside and overall shooting.
As a team, the Trappers shot 43% from the field and posted a 41% clip from beyond the arc in the three scrimmages combined. The best single-game shooting performance came in the second game against Dawson, when NWC shot near 50% from the field and from three.
Individually, Jerome Mabry had one of the best performances. The sophomore notched 19 points and 17 rebounds in the three contests combined, also adding six assists.
“Jerome had a tremendous day,” Collins said. “His willingness and ability to mix it up inside stands out. I would’ve honestly been disappointed if he didn’t show up.”
Others who impressed Collins were Fritz and Liam Guthrie, who each had 17-point games. That duo’s “shooting display was impressive,” as both players shot above 50% in the three exhibitions combined.
Gabe Gutierrez had one of the stronger defensive performances, taking four charges in the three scrimmages, while also recording three steals.
Though Northwest showed overall prowess in its Saturday scrimmages, Collins noted several areas defensively that need to be sharpened. The coach stressed how easy it was for NWC’s opponents to efficiently run their offenses.
“We’ve got a lot of work to do on the defensive end,” Collins said. “Things we’ve worked on in practice didn’t translate very well. We didn’t do the little things; we didn’t deny passes.”
Northwest has ample time to improve on the defensive end, as there are still three months until the start of the regular season in January. The Trappers are scheduled to begin the 2021 campaign on Jan. 22 at Salt Lake Community College.