Your future, our focus
Coach Sees Need For More Consistency
Following a 70-62 loss to Casper College on Thursday, the Northwest College men’s basketball team suffered an 82-63 loss to Gillette College on Saturday at home.
“Got to execute better, play better, but I thought they fought, they played hard,” said Northwest head coach Brian Erickson of the loss to Gillette. “(I) was proud of them at the end, because they didn’t give up.”
Turnovers hurt Northwest, as the Trappers had a total of 26 in the game. That was the second-most turnovers the squad has had this season.
“Our game plan was to just to execute a little bit more on offense and we didn’t do a good job of executing,” Erickson said. “We started playing their game a little bit too much.”
The game against Gillette was marred by four technical fouls — two for each team — all called during an altercation in the second half.
With 6:09 remaining in the game, NWC’s Sukhjot Bains fell and, when he rose to a sitting position, Gillette College’s Daniel Regis was still standing over him.
“The officials said he (Bains) grabbed his (Regis’) leg and chucked it,” Erickson said. However, Erickson said film of the game shows that Bains only put his hands up in a defensive motion — and did not grab Regis.
“It was the second time it had happened in this game,” Erickson said. “That kid had kicked our guy and stood over him and it’s suppose to be an automatic technical foul and they didn’t call it. And so then he did it again to Bains.”
The referees gave technical fouls to both Bains and Regis.
Shortly after that, another ref gave two more technicals — one to a Northwest player and one to a Gillette College player, completing the four technicals.
“That’s the second time it happened in that game and both times (it was) disappointing how they responded with the calls,” Erickson said of the officiating. “You know, I think they got to do a better job of protecting guys out there.”
He added that, “We win and lose ball games and it came down to the things we didn’t do well enough.”
Northwest struggled with its shooting in the second half. After shooting 70 percent from the 3-point line in the first period, they made just 18.2 percent of their tries in the second half. They ended up shooting 42.9 percent from 3-point range for the game. It was a similar story from 2-point range as well, as the Trappers’ success rate fell from 48 to 31 percent between the two halves to finish at 38.9 percent. NWC’s free throw percentage also fell from 80 percent to 72.7 percent for a game total of 75 percent.
Gillette College stayed pretty consistent in their shot percentages, finishing 42.6 percent on 2-point tries, 37.5 percent on 3 pointers and 58.1 percent on free throws.
“We didn’t play our style of basketball I think is the biggest thing, and kinda let them play theirs,” Erickson said.
Bains was the team’s high scorer with 20 points and was the only player to score in double digits. Carter Baxter had the team’s only steal and led with nine rebounds (seven on defense and two on offense). Blake Hinze dished out five assists.
On Thursday, Northwest suffered a 70-62 loss to Casper College on the road. They had led by two at halftime, 32-30.
“Right now it’s just us executing on offense; I don’t think we’ve done a good enough job on that end,” Erickson said of the two losses. “I think we’ve had some opportunities and I don’t know if we’ve taken advantage of them enough.”
Baines and Luc Lombardy lead the team in points with 10 each.
For rebounding, Levi Londole and Hinze led with eight each. Londole’s got three boards on offense and five on defense; Hinze grabbed each of his rebounds on the defensive end.
“I think both games kind of showed them that, I think we can play with these guys. We’ve just got to play at a higher level, be more consistent,” said Erickson.
Northwest shot 38.9 percent at 2-point shots, 33.3 percent on 3-point shots and 72.2 percent at the free throw line.
“Biggest thing is just improving offensively and just us controlling tempo,” said Erickson.
The Trappers’ next game will be at home on Saturday against Miles Community College at 4 p.m.