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Victory Gets Away Against Colorado Northwest
As Trapper head coach Brian Erickson looks back on the season, Friday’s game against Colorado Northwestern in the Sheridan College Lions’ Club Tournament may well be the one that got away. Perhaps more proper, it was the win that got away as Northwest fell 71-70 in overtime.
It was actually a game that got away from the Trappers several times.
Ahead by two points with seconds remaining in regulation, the Trappers surrendered an offensive rebound and put-back with 1.5 seconds remaining to send the contest to overtime. Once in the extra stanza, the Trappers built a 3-point lead with 1:10 remaining, but again encountered trouble.
“We turned the ball over twice and then forced up a bad fadeaway shot on the other trip down the floor,” said Erickson. “Basically, we ended the game with three consecutive turnovers.”
In doing so, the Trappers also gave away their advantage in suffering their third defeat of the season.
“We didn’t come to play,” said Erickson. “We got outworked, and that’s the most disappointing thing for me.”
The Trappers also struggled again with their shooting. The team hit just 39 percent of its shots in the contest.
“We couldn’t hit a layup,” Erickson said of the frigid night from the floor. “The ball just would not go in the hoop for us.”
Jonothan Newsom finished with 17 points to lead the way for the Trappers. Jeffrey Solarin added a double-double with 14 points and a team-best 12 rebounds. Pietro de Andrade also had 14 points while Jeremy Beehler reached double figures with 10 points.
Northwest bounced back from its Friday night loss in decisive fashion. The team dismantled the University of Great Falls JV squad 96-46 on Saturday night. Northwest College scored the first 21 points of the game. The fast start provided Erickson with plenty of opportunity to experiment.
“It was a game where we felt we could work on some things,” Erickson said. “We switched into a zone defense after the first 12 points or so and played that almost exclusively for the rest of the game. We were also able to get some good minutes and chances for the guys who don’t always play a lot of minutes.”
The majority of Northwest’s lineup played 10-15 minutes in the contest as Erickson liberally substituted in the contest.
“We got to work a lot on our execution,” said Erickson.
The Trappers also worked on their rebounding skills. According to stats kept on the bench by Northwest coaching staff, the Trappers held a 47-14 rebounding advantage in the game.
Official game stats were not provided by Sheridan College for the contest.
The Trapper men are now 6-3 overall this season. The team plays three home games in three days this week, starting with the Montana Western JV on Thursday. On Friday, the Trappers host Stone Child College out of Box Elder, Mont. Both games tip off at 7:30 p.m.
The Trappers wrap up their busy weekend with a 3 p.m. game against a Utah-based all-star team on Saturday.
“They’ll be a good challenge,” Erickson said. “One of the guys on the roster has five years’ professional experience in Germany. Another saw good action at Division I. They’ll come in and force us to do some things.”