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Gordon Perfect From Floor In 16-Point Win
The NWC men’s basketball team got its third win in four games Saturday in Powell.
The Trappers won on consecutive Saturdays, with a loss at Western Wyoming on Wednesday sandwiched in between.
Northwest (14-8, 4-5 in conference) beat Dawson Community College 87- 71 on Saturday, a week after defeating Little Big Horn 92-86 on the road Jan. 18.
NWC head coach Brian Erickson was relieved his team staved off a Dawson comeback attempt much better than it did against Central Wyoming on Jan. 15. The Trappers held a 25-point lead over Central with 12:04 to play but had to fight for a five-point win.
Dawson trailed 53- 33 with 15:30 to play but cut it to within 10 with 3:28 left. Four made free throws from Lawrence Fejokwu and a 3-pointer by Tyler Chandler helped to give the Trappers some more breathing room and seal the victory.
Erickson said his team allowed the Buccaneers to crawl back within striking distance after sitting some of his starters.
“That second group came in and you think the momentum kinda keeps going with those guys and sometimes it doesn’t,” Erickson said.
Sophomore point guard Gary Gordon scored 26 points on a perfect 10-for-10 shooting night. Gordon was 6-of-9 from the foul line and had five rebounds, two assists and two steals to fill up the box score.
Erickson said he made it a point to get the ball into Gordon’s hands more.
“We’ve got to get him more touches,” the coach said. “We lose so many of these close games at the end and the one thing that we don’t have is a set guy who’s going to take over a game. I think he can be that guy.”
Gordon certainly was the guy Saturday night. It was only when he sat with 9:30 left in the game that Dawson began to outplay the Trappers.
Erickson said Northwest got a little too comfortable with its lead.
“It’s easy to relax but I try to get the point across to them that this is a college basketball team,” Erickson said. “Dawson is a really good team. They’re going to fight to come back. They’re not going to quit.”
The Trapper offense did not operate as well late in the second half.
“You kind of forget a little about shot selection,” Erickson said.
The coach said he wants his players to keep thinking, “Hey, is it within the system? Is it within the offense?”
Sophomore guard Gabe Solarin scored 13 points and added four rebounds, three steals and a block.
EJ Hubbard was 3-for-4 from the floor, including two 3-pointers on his way to 10 points and five boards. Chandler scored 11 points (5-of-6 from foul line), had three assists, two steals and a rebound.
Behind Gordon’s flawless shooting night the Trappers shot 56 percent from the field.
But the guard scoring that lifted Northwest over Dawson was not to be found against Western in a game in which points were hard to come by.
The Trappers shot just 30.2 percent from the floor and fell to Western Wyoming 54-47 Wednesday.
“We just couldn’t get the ball to go in the hoop,” Erickson said. “47 points just isn’t good enough.”
The teams were tied at 25 at the half, but Northwest couldn’t find a way to win on the road.
“That’s such a tough place to play, against a team that just works their butt off, they work so hard,” Erickson said. “When things aren’t going well you’ve got to find another way to win and we didn’t that night.”
The coach said he could have done more to get Gordon more scoring opportunities against the Mustangs.
“I didn’t go a good enough job getting him enough looks,” Erickson said. “We need to get him the ball more.”
Sophomore Franklin Uzonwanne had nine points and nine rebounds to lead the Trappers in both categories. He also contributed an assist, block and steal.
Hubbard matched Uzonwanne’s nine points and had five boards.
Fejokwu had six points, was tied for the team-high with nine rebounds and had a team-high three blocks.
“Western’s defense did a good job,” Erickson said. “They made us work for our shots.”
Sophomore Andreas Bigum returned from a lower back injury against Western, but played sparingly in both of last week’s games.
“We’ve got some other guys playing real well so he gets his opportunity every day to earn his minutes and prove it,” Erickson said.
Northwest beat the Little Big Horn College Rams 92-85 on Jan. 18 in Crow Agency, Mont.
Gordon paved the way with a team-high 21 points (13-for-15 from the free throw line) and was tied for the team-high with seven rebounds.
Hubbard scored 18 points to go with five rebounds and Uzonwanne added 17 points, five boards and three assists.
“Hubbard’s been a lot better,” Erickson said. “He’s really stepped up on both ends of the floor.”
Solarin had 13 points, seven rebounds and a steal.
As a team Northwest out-rebounded the Rams 43-30.
The Trapper men will try to knock off first-place Gillette (19-2, 8-0) at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, and then play at Miles City at 5 p.m. Saturday.