Your future, our focus
NWC Swept Weekend Contests: Prepares For Casper College Saturday Evening
A day before meeting Central Wyoming College for the first time this season, Northwest College head coach Brian Erickson shared his philosophy on road games.
“We have to steal a few on the road,” the coach said Monday.
Consider Erickson a philosopher.
Trailing the hosts by 10 at halftime, NWC committed a game-saving theft in the final 20 minutes, rallying for an 86-72 Region IX victory in Riverton. Erickson expected a tough game against CWC, and got one, as the hosts built a 41-31 halftime lead. Erickson said his team was executing its game plan adequately in the first half, but added that the hot-shooting Rustlers managed to outplay the NWC defense.
“We talked about playing under and jumping to the ball and trying to beat them to spots, and we did that, but they were just making shots. They were on fire,” Erickson said. “Central is such a well-coached team, and they’re so fundamental. In that first half I think they were a little more fundamental than us, but in the second half I think we pressured them out of that and rattled them a little bit.”
Helping to shake CWC in the second half was sophomore Nicky Desilien. Heading into Tuesday’s action, the guard had posted 27, 24 and 15 points in his previous three contests, and caught fire again against the Rustlers. He finished with 29 points on 11-of-17 shooting, and earned high praise for his play down the stretch.
“Nicky really took over the last nine or 10 minutes,” Erickson said. “He’s really learned how to kind of take over the team and manage the clock. In those final minutes he was looking over at the coaches to figure out what to run and he’s really doing a good job for us.”
At the 14:50 mark of the second half, NWC was still trailing by 13, but managed to fight back and completed a 24-point halftime swing.
Desilien’s best friend, Chris Boucher, added 21 points (8-of-9 from the floor), five rebounds and four blocks. Erickson was also proud of some of his role players.
“Tyler Chandler came in and gave us big-time minutes — he gave us tremendous energy,” Erickson said. “And Ammar Rehman really came to play today too with 12 points and five rebounds.”
Although he admitted he was excited about the win, Erickson stressed the importance of keeping things in perspective.
“Each game we play, each practice ... I’ve always said we’ve been pretty close like a family ... but they’re buying in even more,” he said. “I just hope we’re not peaking because we still have a lot of basketball left and a need to put two halves of basketball together.
“And more importantly, we needed to learn how to make adjustments a little earlier and not just at halftime.”
NWC (17-4, 4-1 Region IX) is now riding a four-game winning streak ahead of a region matchup with Casper College (15-4, 5-2) at 5 p.m. Saturday at Cabre Gym in Powell.
“Great win tonight, but we’ve still got to go get the one at home,” Erickson continued. “I’m real excited about this win, but now our focus is on Casper.”
NORTHWEST COLLEGE 94, LITTLE BIG HORN COLLEGE 81
NWC started another winning streak with a route of Region IX foe Little Big Horn College in Crow Agency, Mont., on Friday. Sophomores and Canadian products Boucher and Desilien came up big for the Trappers once again, helping NWC to a 47- 28 halftime lead.
Boucher finished the game just shy of a triple-double after collecting 29 points, 12 points and eight blocks. He also shot 62 percent from the floor (13- of-21). Desilien added 24 points and dished out 12 assists for a double-double. Sophomore EJ Hubbard chipped in 14 points and a team-high four steals.
After an exciting upset of then-No. 18-ranked Gillette College on Jan. 10, NWC avoided a letdown with what Erickson called “high-energy” basketball.
“We did a really good job in the first half of playing our tempo of basketball,” Erickson said. “We were playing unselfish ball, we were defending and our defense really became our offense.
“This was a tough road trip. Little Big Horn is a tough team and they play a different style of basketball,” he continued. “They try to get you to play that style, but we did a good job of avoiding that and came out on top.”
NORTHWEST COLLEGE 72, MILES COMMUNITY COLLEGE 67
The Trappers road trip toughened with another Region IX battle in Miles City, Mont. Desilien (15 points) and Boucher (13 points, 21 rebounds) again had strong games for NWC, and the Trappers needed every one of their points in a comeback victory Saturday.
Sophomore Colin May also played an important role for NWC, scoring 14 points, including six in as many attempts at the free-throw line.
Erickson said he was impressed with his team’s ability to not only rally for the victory, but to do so in a hostile environment.
“The atmosphere in the Miles gym was tough,” Erickson said. “That crowd really affected us, and they were really into it. But once our guys really settled down and played our game, we were able to shake some of that off.”
A day after scoring nearly 50 points in the first half of the Little Big Horn game, the Trappers had to shake off some cold shooting during halftime. MCC held a 36-30 lead at the break, but NWC’s defense limited the hosts to just 31 in the second half while its offense posted 42 on the scoreboard.
“I was happy with the win,” Erickson added. “These were two games we really needed to stay in the hunt for first place in the region.
“I think it took us a few games to realize, ‘Wow, we really need to take it up another level,’” he said. “We really need the guys to go out there and play hard every night and not just show up when they want.”