Your future, our focus
The official record might say 9-3 but Northwest men’s basketball coach Brian Erickson said it might as well be a blank slate.
“Really we’re 0-0,” Erickson said. “The games we’ve played have helped us prepare for these games.”
The Trappers finished their pre-conference schedule with wins over the Dawson Community College alumni and Minot Air Force Base teams over the weekend, and began Region IX play this week. Northwest played Gillette College Wednesday night (after press time) and will play Miles City at 5 p.m. Saturday.
“It’s a little bit different than any of these other games we’ve played,” Erickson said.
Now that the rest of the Powell sports scene has died down, Erickson expects a full home crowd for the start of the Trappers’ conference schedule.
“I think there will be a different level of excitement and energy in the crowd,” Erickson said.
Northwest played six games against alumni or all-star teams since Nov. 15, a stretch of schedule that taught the Trappers about playing as a team, Erickson said.
“You don’t always have to be the most athletic team,” the coach said. “It’s kind of opened our guys’ eyes a bit.”
Erickson hopes the experience, especially a 2-1 stretch against the Utah All-Stars in which each game was decided by less than five points, motivates Northwest to stick together as a team and focus on executing the offensive and defensive plans.
The Trappers did that in two blowout wins in Glendive, Mont.
Northwest beat the Dawson alumni 107- 54 Nov. 29 and Minot Air Force Base 111- 70 Nov. 30 behind strong rebounding and shooting performances.
The Trappers out-rebounded Dawson 72- 30 and then 35-19 against Minot. Northwest pulled down 49 offensive boards in the two games.
Northwest’s prowess on the offensive glass led to easy putbacks and a 55 percent field goal percentage in the wins.
Gary Gordon led the way versus Dawson. The second-year point guard had 19 points on 8-for-11 shooting, five rebounds and five assists in 20 minutes.
Swingman Andreas Bigum added 15 points (6-of-12 from the floor) and eight rebounds Friday and had another 10 points and three rebounds Saturday. Sophomore forward Lawrence Fejokwu missed only one of his seven shots as he went for 12 points and five rebounds.
Franklin Uzonwanne scored 11 points and had six rebounds and freshman Tyler Shamo scored a season-high 10 points in 20 minutes of action. Shamo also came down with three offensive rebounds.
Freshman Cody McCoy scored 10 points. Guard Gabe Solarin was 3-of-5 from beyond the arc for nine points and tallied five rebounds.
Solarin notched another 14 points, five rebounds and five assists against Minot Air Force Base. Gordon added 12 points, five rebounds and two assists against Minot.
Uzonwanne scored 10 points to go along with his five rebounds. McCoy got to doubledigits again with 14 points Saturday.
Shamo and sophomore Hyrum Checketts each scored nine points against Minot.
Erickson said his starting lineup and rotation will become more solidified as conference play starts. He still may play 10 or 11 guys a night, but some will see a more limited role during games. The tentative starting lineup will be Gordon, Solarin, Bigum, Fejokwu and KJ Rech.
“We got a couple guys coming off the bench — they could be starters,” Erickson said. “We’re not losing much, or maybe we’re getting something, with guys coming off the bench.”