Your future, our focus
Call it home-court familiarity, if not a home-court advantage.
“I was really comfortable here,” Blake Hinze said. “I’ve probably spent 50 percent of my life here.”
That would be in Cody High School’s Sweitzer Gym, where the freshman guard for Northwest College men’s basketball team made a cameo appearance last Saturday.
Hinze, a 2016 Cody grad, pumped in a team-high 19 points to lead the Trappers to a 95-67 victory over the Game Gear Traveling All-Stars from Utah.
It was an out-reach home game for the Powell-based Trappers, the idea of coach Brian Erickson to keep expanding his team’s fan base.
As a bonus, Hinze, got to play another game in his old home gym. He shone, adding 7 assists, 5 rebounds and 3 steals.
“Big-time,” is the way Erickson described Hinze’s performance.
Now 3-3, the Trappers had some sluggish moments early, then injected several scoring spurts to move ahead and stay ahead, using a running game to wear down Game Gear, and intense defense to hold the visitors to 32.8 percent shooting from the floor.
Northwest’s runs included an 11-2 stretch in the first half, a 19-5 burst early in the second half, and an 18-2 streak near the end of the game.
Forward Sukhjot Bains (12 points, 10 rebounds), guard Jonathan Koud (10 points), guard Carter Baxter (9 points) and forward Levi Londale (9 points, 6 rebounds) all made major Trapper contributions.
But guards Skyler Zabriskie (11 points) and Devonte Morgan (9 points), keyed things when Game Gear entertained the notion of a comeback.
“Coach told us they were going to stay with us for a little while,” Morgan said. “But they didn’t have the young legs.”
Morgan showed more speed than anyone on the other side and his ability to push the ball upcourt and thread between defenders opened up shots for teammates.
The team’s ratcheted-up defense was a difference-maker, as well.
Zabriskie felt he was in a shooting slump in recent games, but hit 4-for-8 from the floor, three of the baskets coming on 3-point shots.
“I’ve been off the last few games,” Zabriskie said. “That full-court press finally wore them out.”
Hinze said he had a dozen or so relatives in the stands and probably knew half of the crowd of 250-ish that showed up for the free-admission contest.
Erickson said the experiment of moving a game to Cody is something to build on.
“I think if we can keep doing this every year it can grow,” he said. “They’re (fans) coming to see who you are. You have to make them love it.”
If you were a Trapper fan, Saturday there was nothing not to like.
(Lew Freedman can be reached at lew@codyenterprise.com.)