Your future, our focus
Trappers 9-3 At Break
The Northwest College men’s basketball team didn’t need to play a complete game, but they did.
The Trapper men, coming off two straight losses last weekend in Sheridan, gave the full 40-minute effort that head coach Brian Erickson was looking for in a 105-66 rout of Game Gear, an All-Star team from Salt Lake City, Friday night in Cabre Gym.
Erickson said the timing of Friday’s contest, Northwest’s last until Dec. 31, allowed the trappers to clean up their play, and their approach to games.
“It was a really good opportunity for our guys,” Erickson said. “I kind of put everything in their hands. The pregame speech, at halftime, I talked to them about some things I wanted to see, but I let them, even in our timeouts, really talk. They had a lot to say. They have to speak up and talk to each other about how to improve.”
Five Trappers scored in double figures, and freshman Levi Londole came off the bench to record the game’s only double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds.
Jordan Rood led players with 17 points on 7-of-9 shooting and had a game-high five steals in just 17 minutes.
All 12 Trappers played as Northwest closed the fall semester at 9-3.
“It was a team effort. Everybody played. Everybody did some good things out there, and they just kept playing for the 40 minutes,” Erickson said.
Northwest doubled up Game Gear less than eight minutes in and led by as many as 28 (49-21) in the first half. The Trappers were up 51-32 at the break, but continued to push in the second half.
“The weekend before, we were up by 22 and we end up losing,” Erickson said. “We might be in that situation again. That was really them growing as a team and coming to play for 40 minutes.
“No matter how much you’re ahead, the things you can control are still your effort.”
The 19-point lead grew to 24 with 12 minutes to play in the game, and then to 30 (89-59) six minutes later.
Freshman Grantham Gillard finished with 15 points, five rebounds and two assists.
Sophomore Garrison Gillard had 12 points and a game-high seven assists.
Sophomore Dan Milota scored 12 points, had four rebounds and two assists.
Freshman Sukhjot Bains had nine points and six boards while Skyler Zabriskie, Levi Petersen and Damon Leach had eight points apiece.
Erickson said the team began to reestablish the chemistry that was absent last weekend.
“The Xs and Os, we can do a better job there for sure,” Erickson said. “But we were a better team there in that game.”
Game Gear featured a pair of former Trappers — Colin May and Aaron Clark.
May was a Trapper from 2012-13 to 2014-15. Clark was on the team for the 2014-15 season.
May scored a team-high 16 points for Game Gear on 5-of- 10 shooting, including 3-of-6 on 3-pointers.
Clark scored six points and had four rebounds.
The Trappers have a final week of practice before disbanding for two weeks over the winter break.
Erickson said it’s the players’ responsibility to maintain a proper level of fitness while away from campus. When the Trappers reconvene after the holidays, they’ll have just a few days to prepare before their first game back.
Erickson said he’s confident the players will manage their time away well and will return focused and refreshed.
“Being able to see family, enjoy the holidays, a lot of these kids are far away. Mentally, when they come back, I think they’re ready to go again,” Erickson said.
Northwest was originally scheduled to play another All-Star team, the Colorado Kings, on Friday, and Game Gear on Saturday. Game Gear agreed to play on Friday after the Kings had to withdraw due to an insufficient amount of players.