Your future, our focus
Bench Carries Team At Home
The Northwest College men’s basketball team opened its home schedule with three wins in five days to improve to 6-1 on the season.
The Trappers won by double-digit margins against Rocky Mountain JV on Tuesday night and Bismarck State on Friday, and beat Dawson by eight after leading by 16 at halftime.
Northwest extended its win streak to six games with its depth despite what head coach Brian Erickson described as occasional “selfish” and “lazy” play.
Five players reached double figures, and 11 total Trappers scored, in a 90-65 win against Rocky Mountain. Northwest’s starting five scored 48 points to lead the way.
When the starting five failed to properly execute Northwest’s offense over the weekend, Erickson handed the reins over to his bench, which scored 45 points in a 75-63 win over Bismarck.
“We have enough guys on the bench, we’ll have other nights like that,” he said.
The starting five’s scoring output — or lack thereof — didn’t concern Erickson as much as their reluctance to run the Trappers’ offense.
“We didn’t run our offense very well. Really didn’t run it at all. We played pretty selfish in both games (of the First Bank of Wyoming Shootout), especially that second half of the Bismarck game,” Erickson said. “Too many zero-pass shots or one-pass shots. No movement, no screens.”
Grantham Gillard paced the Trappers with 20 points off the bench against Bismarck, and Sukhjot Bains added 14 points and nine rebounds as a reserve. Starter Joel Muamba had 12 points and 10 rebounds for a double-double.
Erickson said the focus this week will be on proper execution of the offense. Monday’s practice was nixed for an extended film session, and Tuesday’s romp against Rocky was a chance for Northwest to stick to the script.
“(We) try to help them understand they got to play better together,” Erickson said. “We have three games this week and really got to make some improvements in that way.”
Starter Dan Milota was a rebound shy of a double-double during Saturday’s 70-62 win over Dawson. Milota scored a game-high 16 points and led all players with nine rebounds. “Daniel was a stud.
It’s expected,” Erickson said. “He’s a sophomore and a guy who has the experience. He played on a region championship team last year. He’s about our only guy who has that experience, so he understands what it takes.”
Erickson said he hopes the younger players see the example set by Milota, who is often heard communicating defensive assignments and relaying play calls, and follow suit.
“We got to get guys more on his level, with playing together and knowing what it takes,” Erickson said. “He knows what it takes. He played with a good team last year. But now he’s that guy that can teach these younger guys what it takes.”
Gillard added 13 points, Jordan Rood scored nine and Damon Leach scored eight.
The balanced offensive attack was enough to make up for an inconsistent defense that let Dawson, which shot 41.5 percent from the field, back in late in the game.
“For the most part, I thought we did a pretty good job. We just had about a five-six minute lapse in that second half that we didn’t play well,” Erickson said. “The last 15 minutes we didn’t play well. We just got lazy.”
The Trappers held Rocky Mountain to 33.3 percent shooting while Bismarck shot 32.5 percent from the floor.
Northwest hits the road again this weekend for a pair of games in Glendive, Montana.
Dawson will host a rematch at 6 p.m. on Friday and Fort Berthold awaits at 4 p.m. on Saturday.
“Each game we got to get better and keep preparing ourselves for the next game,” Erickson said. “We need to start playing at a championship-caliber level.”
Erickson would also like his rotation to become a little clearer. The depth of his roster and inconsistency of play has made it hard for players to stick in roles. As of now, Erickson suggests playing time will go to those who work for it.
“I thought we’d be close, but no,” Erickson said of figuring out NWC’s rotation. “We’ll get more guys in there that really haven’t had as many opportunities, because one, I know they’ll run our offense. They work their butts off in practice.”