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A physical overtime battle between Northwest and Casper College ended in a scuffle between the two programs — with Northwest starting Region IX play 1-0 after a 93-83 victory on Saturday.
NORTHWEST 93, CASPER COLLEGE 83 (OT)A tough, physical tone was set from the outset for both teams as Northwest (14-7 overall, 1-0 Region IX North) took an early 6-0 lead over Casper College (15-5, 0-1 Region IX North).
Two dunks by Juan Pablo Camargo in the first six minutes helped give the Trappers momentum, as the hosts continued to hold off the visitors early.
“We did a good job of handling their press and a pretty good job defensively,” coach Andy Ward said.
Northwest continued to maintain its early lead throughout the first half, leading 29-26 with five minutes left.
Just under a minute later, a tense moment occurred between both teams when a Casper College player got the ball, and was shepherded out of bounds by a Northwest player at midcourt — causing tensions to rise between both teams.
The officials were unable to determine a possessor on the play, and called a jump ball as a result.
Northwest extended its lead over the final four minutes, pushing out to a 48-36 lead heading into the locker room.
Starting the second half, Casper College erupted with a 6-0 run to force a timeout by Ward.
“I didn’t like the way we came out and turned over the ball on two of our first three possessions,” Ward said. “They hurt us in transition in the second half.”
Northwest did not allow the Thunderbirds to cut the lead down to a single possession, and pushed the lead back out to 11 with 12:30 remaining.
A quick run over the next four minutes quickly cut it to two, but the Trappers did not allow the contest to be tied until four minutes remained.
The Thunderbirds took their first lead 72-70 before two straight scoring possessions returned the lead to Northwest.
Casper College took the lead late, but a putback dunk by Camargo Tellez tied it with just over 10 seconds remaining.
Casper College had the ball past midcourt, but an offensive foul gave Northwest the ball back and a chance to win it.
Yannice Nlend drove to the basket and his layup missed, but a blocking foul gave him an opportunity to win it with a second left.
Nlend stepped up, but missed both and the game went into overtime tied at 76.
“A lot of the time the focus goes on the last plays of the game when it is close like that,” Ward said. “I can point to a lot of other areas like turnovers in the first half or mental lapses throughout the game… I think Yannice would want those free throws back but he did a lot of good things.”
Casper College scored on its first possession, but a 3-pointer banked in by Will Hemme gave the Trappers the lead for good.
Quick transition baskets and an intentional foul on a fast break gave Northwest a seven point lead with 3:04 left in the extra period, and a technical foul on the Casper College head coach late and another on a player throwing the ball to the official helped Northwest secure the late victory 93-83.
Davion McAdam had a season high 35 points for Northwest against his former team — with David Ayala and Camargo Tellez each having 14 and Nlend finishing with 11.
After the contest, a scuffle broke out between the two teams, but no suspensions were dealt to any Northwest College players or coaches for the incident.
https://www.powelltribune.com/stories/tensions-boil-over-after-intense-trappers-win,67481See a full recap of the incident here.
REGION PLAY CONTINUESNorthwest continued Region IX play on Wednesday, heading to Torrington to take on Eastern Wyoming (4-16 overall, 0-1 Region IX North) at 7:30 p.m.
“Playing on the road is always a challenge, Eastern Wyoming is a really good offensive team,” Ward said. “We are going to have to do a solid job defensively.”
That result was determined after the press deadline.
The Trappers return home Saturday at 7:30 p.m. to take on Western Wyoming (14-7 overall, 1-0 Region IX North) before hosting Laramie County Community College (10-7 overall, 1-0 Region IX North) on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m.
NORTHWEST 93, CASPER COLLEGE 83 (OT)Total rebounds then offensive rebounds in ()Points — Davion McAdam 35, David Ayala 14, Juan Pablo Camargo Tellez 14, Yannice Nlend 11, Will Hemme 6, Mack Page 4, Kolter Merritt 4, Brash Emery 3, Christian Adun 2Rebounds — David Ayala 9, Yannice Nlend 6, Davion McAdam 5 (1), Juan Pablo Camargo Tellez 5 (2), Mack Page 4 (2), Christian Adun 3 (1), Will Hemme 2, Kolter Merritt 2Assists — Will Hemme 5, David Ayala 3, Davion McAdam 2, Yannice Nlend 2, Brash Emery 2, Mack Page 2Steals — Yannice Nlend 2, Juan Pablo Camargo Tellez 1, Brash Emery 1, Christian Adun 1