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Northwest Battles For Home Playoff Game, Sophomore Night Saturday
A two-loss week took the Northwest College men’s basketball team out of contention for third place in Region IX-North, but the Trappers are still in the hunt for a home playoff game.
Northwest (14-13 overall) lost 89-70 at home against Miles City on Feb. 10, giving both teams 5-6 conference records, and setting up a meaningful final week of regular-season play.
Northwest is in control of its tournament destiny during this final week of the regular season, which sent the Trappers to Central Wyoming Wednesday night (after press time) and pits them against Sheridan at home 5 p.m. on Saturday.
“If we win (at Central) we guarantee ourselves that home game, then that Saturday is our sophomore night. We’re still playing for something,” NWC head coach Brian Erickson said.
Northwest and Miles will be the North’s fourth and fifth seeds, but the order is to be determined.
The Trappers trailed just 32-28 after a low-scoring first half, before the Pioneers came out and shot 60 percent from the field, and 53.8 percent from deep, in the final 20 minutes.
“They shot it well in that second half,” Erickson said. “(But) like our last home game against Gillette, the energy and intensity, there was none. I felt like we got outworked in every area.”
Erickson said a week of scouting and in-game adjustments mean little if they aren’t executed with some sense of urgency.
“It really didn’t matter what we did. We weren’t helping, we weren’t making rotations. I think it just comes down to energy and effort, and if we do those things it’s going to be a closer game, or maybe we win that game,” Erickson said.
Miles played a zone defense that held Northwest to 39.7 percent (23-for-58) from the field and 33.3 percent on threes. Erickson said the Trappers, deterred from the lane, settled too often for jump shots.
“They played in their zone and we didn’t attack it,” he said. “When we’re the aggressor we’re pretty good but we sat back on our heels.”
Freshman Levi Londole scored a team-high 15 points on 7-for-13 shooting to go with five rebounds.
Freshman Grantham Gillard was held to just six points in 26 minutes his first game back from a foot injury. It snapped a streak of six straight games in double figures, including five with at least 22 points.
Freshman Joel Muamba finished with 13 points and eight rebounds, and freshman Sukhjot Bains added 10 points and four boards.
A home win over Western Wyoming on Jan. 21 gave the Trappers a tiebreaker over Miles — should the teams finish with identical Region IX records — but the Mustangs handed NWC an 80-65 loss on Saturday.
Erickson said the Trappers performed better during the road loss, but a cold shooting night and one late Western run put the game away.
“I thought we played pretty well, we just came out in that second half and just didn’t shoot it well, and they took advantage of it,” Erickson said.
The Trappers applied full court pressure halfway through the second half in an attempt to make a comeback.
“We took some chances with 10, 11 minutes left in the full court and (the Mustangs) scored six straight points … and we couldn’t come back from it,” Erickson said.
Gillard rebounded from his six-point performance with a game-high 21 points on 7-for-17 shooting, and grabbed five rebounds against Western.
Bains added 11 points and eight boards, sophomore Jordon Rood scored nine points with five rebounds, Londole had six points and five boards and freshman Jordy Telfort scored seven points.
Northwest was out-rebounded 44-35, after going into halftime even with Western on the glass.
“You look at our shooting percentage, we just missed too many shots. There was more opportunities (for rebounds),” Erickson said.
The Trappers shot 38.2 percent (21-of-55) from the field and 31.6 percent (6-of-19 on 3-pointers. Both teams finished 17-for-26 from the foul line.
Telfort and Dan Milota continue to work their way back into game shape following extended absences due to injury.
Milota scored three points — all by way of free throw — against Miles, and had four points against Western. Telfort added seven points against Miles.
“Those guys can get in a gym all they want, but being able to play five-on-five, or even one-on-one, it’s a lot different — the intensity,” Erickson said. “They’ve been playing, it’s just getting a good feel for it again. Dan looked a lot better in practice (Tuesday).”
Visit facebook.com/powelltribune for results from Wednesday’s game against Central Wyoming.