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NWC Men Win Region IX North
Central Wyoming College knew that if it had any chance of preventing No. 15 Northwest College from winning the Region IX North title outright on Tuesday, it was going to have to avoid Chris Boucher in the post.
Plan B didn’t work either.
The Rustlers fired a robust 35 3-pointers, and made 15 of them, but behind Boucher, Nicky Desilien and a resilient second-half defense, NWC held on to defeat Central 91-84 at Cabre Gym in Powell. The victory prevented any chances of a tie in the region, and allowed NWC (25-4, 12-1) to stand alone atop the mountain.
NWC will be the No. 1 seed heading into the Region IX tournament, which starts with a play-in game at Cabre Gym on Saturday, Feb. 28. The Trappers have one final regular season game this Saturday, a road showdown against Western Wyoming, but that obstacle may seem minuscule with a chance to make history later this month.
If NWC knocks off the North's eighth seed in the tournament play-in game later this month, the Trappers will host the tournament for the first time in school history. (See related story.)
“That’s a pretty good feeling,” Boucher said. “We’ve been playing for this all season, it’s been one of our goals, and now it’s actually happening. It feels good.”
Early on, it looked as if NWC’s good feelings would be put on ice.
Central lured the Trappers into a 3-point contest early, and won convincingly. The Rustlers made 11 of their 19 attempts from beyond the arc in the first half, fueled by five each from Bryce Canda and Xavier Webb. NWC countered with 19 points from Boucher, as the Trappers failed to keep up with Central’s sharp shooting after hitting just five first-half triples (11 attempts).
Central led 51-48 at the break.
“I yelled at them,” NWC head coach Brian Erickson said of his halftime speech to his team. “I wasn’t happy with our perimeter defense, we were settling for our own 3-pointers when we should have been attacking, and we needed a change.”
Erickson acknowledged that Central’s willingness to fire the three ball likely stemmed from an unwillingness to challenge the 6 10 Boucher near the rim. Boucher finished with 11 rebounds and seven blocks to go with his game-high 32 points.
“If they want to shoot threes, that’s fine, that’s a lower percentage shot,” he said. “But we still have to do a better job of defending them.”
In the second half, the Trappers did, limiting Central to 4 of 16 from distance.
Boucher said he understood his coach’s frustration at the half, and felt that his teammates took it to heart.
“I think we came into the game thinking that we’re already No. 1 and Central is No. 2 and that’s it,” Boucher said. “But that’s not how it works. Coach yelled at us because he’s been telling us to do the same stuff all season and we weren’t, but we got our heads together in the second half and it paid off.”
Central opened the second half with a 3-pointer from Khalid Washington, on which he was fouled, and after he converted the subsequent free-throw, the Rustlers had their biggest lead at 55-48. But Boucher started a 18-2 run with a jumper, and registered his own four-point play during the burst as the Trappers pulled ahead 66-57 and never trailed again. Daryle Morgan and Tyler Chandler drained back-to-back 3-pointers to cap the run.
Desilien finished with 18 points and dished out seven assists. Morgan and Chandler had 12 and 10 points, respectively, for NWC.
NORTHWEST 94, CASPER 85
Sometimes, you’re just glad you won.
That’s how Erickson was feeling after the Trappers were tied in a halftime knot with host Casper College on Saturday. NWC eventually pulled away for the victory, but Erickson was left feeling relieved, not impressed.
“I don’t think we overall played that well. I think Casper did a good job of pressuring us and taking us out of our stuff,” he said. “We weren’t making great rotations and not really working well together for most of the game.
“I’m not sure what was really going on for us, but I’m really just glad we came out of there with the win.”
The victory pushed the Trappers closer to the Region IX North title prior to Tuesday’s victory, and the driving forces behind the triumph were familiar.
Boucher drained a team-high 30 points while securing 21 rebounds to go with seven blocks. Desilien followed him with 28 points, helping the Trappers counter a 32-point effort from Casper’s Hakeem Rogers.
“Nicky didn’t have a great first half ... he struggled a little bit ... he has to get better playing through contact and avoiding letting the officials or crowd get to him,” Erickson said. “But in that second half, he just exploded and did a great job.”
Boucher’s big night on the boards sparked a 31-15 rebound advantage for NWC in the second half. Erickson said that while the point totals are nice, the Canadian product can be dangerous in other ways.
“He did really well, and he attacked the offensive glass. He attacked the glass on both ends,” he added. “He’s one of those guys that doesn’t need the ball in his hands to do good things.”
NWC won the rebound battle 52-36, and shot a robust 40 free throws (35 made for 88 percent) to the Thunderbirds’ 26. Boucher and Desilien went 9 of 10 and 11 of 12 from the line, respectively. Morgan had another solid night, adding 14 points from the floor.
Perhaps one of the unsung heroes on this NWC team, Morgan was the subject of some Erickson praise following the win.
“He was an all-region guy last year playing at Central Wyoming; he’s really capable,” Erickson said. “He’s not leading our team in points, but he’s still a big part of who we are and, and I think he’s showing that he’s more and more comfortable in his role.”
NORTHWEST 87, WESTERN WYOMING 61
Over the course of this Region IX North battle, it became obvious Western Wyoming did its homework on Boucher.
But the Mustangs may have limited their studies exclusively to Boucher’s highlight reels, because they apparently forgot about the rest of the Trappers.
On a rare night when Boucher was only semi-effective, sophomore EJ Hubbard (21 points), Desilien (20) and Morgan (15) continued to demonstrate the Trappers’ multifaceted offense in a home win on Feb. 12.
Boucher came into the contest averaging 28 points, 15 rebounds and five blocks during a nine-game winning streak. But an illness slowed the big man, as Boucher played 25 minutes while attempting just four field goals in a six-point performance. He still came away with 12 rebounds and numerous blocks, but his off-night gave his teammates a chance to shine.
“I’ll say it’s never the Chris show,” Desilien said. “It’s actually the Trapper show. This team doesn’t only rely on Chris, it relies on everybody, and I think we’re more of a team than people see.”
Boucher started the scoring for NWC with a common sight, a two-handed slam dunk that sent the crowd into a frenzy. But from there, Boucher mostly spent the night setting screens, rejecting Mustang shots and pulling down boards he would then deliver to his teammates — and they made good on those deliveries.
“It’s like wildfire,” Hubbard said. “Once one of us catches fire, the whole team is like ‘All right, let’s get a piece of it.’”
Hubbard came up big in the first half as Western (21-5, 7-4) was within 13-10 early. The Trappers responded with a 41-22 eruption that gave the hosts a commanding 54-32 lead at the half.
Hubbard chipped in nine of his 12 first-half points during the run, including a tip-in of a missed shot at the buzzer that left Cabre Gym buzzing.
“It was really just about my teammates finding me in good spots,” Hubbard said. “And I was just taking the shots [Western] was giving to me and knocking them down.”
During the burst, freshman Dan Milota teamed with Morgan to put together a quick 8-0 burst that turned a 29-24 edge into a 13-point advantage that all but sealed the game.
Milota knocked down a jumper before Morgan finished with back-to-back layups, the second of which gave NWC its first double-digit lead of the game with less than seven minutes to play. Milota then followed with two free throws, and Western never threatened again.
“I think we’re just a really, really good team in the open court,’ Erickson said. “When we can push the ball and have guys who can knock down some outside shots and guys in the post attack, offensively I think we can do a good job.”
The Mustangs shot a modest 47 percent from the floor (24 of 51), but were hurt by a Trapper defense that forced 24 turnovers. NWC committed just 10, and the lack of giveaways allowed an efficient offense to convert 54 percent of its field goals (31 of 57).
“I think our defense really set the tone,” Erickson said. “Ten turnovers from our guys to their 24 ... I think that really tells the story right there. Our offense is playing well, but when you get an effort on defense like we got tonight, you’re going to be hard to beat.”