TRAPPERS FALL ON THE ROAD
BY SETH ROMSA TRIBUNE SPORTS WRITER
Courtesy of the Powell Tribune
The Northwest College men's basketball team found itself on the wrong side of double digit losses in two tough road contests, falling to Casper College 99-83 on Feb. 19 before losing to Western Wyoming 91-69 on Saturday.
CASPER COLLEGE 99, NORTHWEST 83
Starting the road trip in Casper on Feb. 19, the Trappers (18-10 overall, 6-5 Region IX North) matched up with the Thunderbirds (21-6 overall, 8-2 Region IX North).
Scoring was hard to come by for each team early, as the teams were tied at six four minutes in.
The Thunderbirds defense started to create separation for the hosts, as the Trappers trailed 18-9 midway through the half.
Casper pushed the lead to double digits, and made it a 13 point game with approximately five minutes remaining in the half.
A late run by the Thunderbirds gave them a comfortable margin at the break, as the Trappers trailed 47-26 heading into the second half.
"They did pressure us, but we knew they were going to do that," coach Andy Ward said. "The biggest thing that I felt happened in the first half was we were disorganized in our initial attack, so we didn't attack their press very well and then it kind of overflowed into our half court and we could never really get into anything."
Northwest's scoring picked up early in the second half, but the Trappers couldn't cut into the Casper lead early and trailed by over 20 with the score at 64-41 with just under 16 minutes left.
Midway through the second half the Trappers started chipping away at the Thunderbird advantage, trailing 67-52 with just under 12 minutes left.
The Trappers kept pushing and cut it down to 10 on a Drew Larson 3-pointer with 8:30 remaining, but Casper kept answering to keep Northwest from getting closer and the Trappers trailed 84-69 with just five minutes remaining.
The Thunderbirds saw out the remainder of the game and snapped the Trapper's three game winning streak with the 99-83 final.
"In the second half, we played a lot better and we attacked the press better, flowed into our offensive stuff better," Ward said. "But at the end of the day, we gave away too many points. We're having to score constantly in the 90s to win, that's just too many. So we've got to be better than we were defensively."
Colin Hayes led with 27 points, Tessi Thong added 17 and four assists, and Preston Condie had 10 points as the other Trapper in double figures.
Kaden Christensen led with five rebounds and Drew Larson had five steals.
WESTERN WYOMING 91, NORTHWEST 69
After the loss the Trappers took a few days off before heading to Rock Springs to take on the Mustangs (14-14 overall, 5-5 Region IX North) in a key contest to determine postseason seeding.
Northwest got off to a slow start, only managing two points over the first four minutes as the Trappers trailed 7-2.
Western continued its strong start, making it a double digit contest up 13-3 just two minutes later.
Northwest's offense continued to stall, and Western extended its lead to 24-8 before the midway point of the half.
"We didn't shoot the ball well. They had something to do with that, they played physical, they played hard. I thought we got out-toughed for the large majority of the game," Ward said.
The difficult first half scoring kept going for the Trappers, as Western led 31-18 with five minutes remaining as the Trappers sought a way back into the contest.
Northwest was unable to get within single digits and trailed 40-27 at the break.
Western came out even stronger in the second half, starting on a 16-3 run and led 56-30 just four minutes in.
Northwest quickly cut the lead down to 59-46 within the next five minutes, but Western responded with another quick run and made it 66-46 with nine minutes left.
The Trappers were unable to get closer than 18 over the final stretch of the game, as each time Northwest found the basket the Mustangs had an answer and the Trappers fell 91-69.
"We gave up too many open looks, too many easy shots at the basket," Ward said.
Hayes led with 12 points, while Larson had a 10 point, 11 rebound double-double.
Thong and Eli Patterson each had three assists to lead the Trappers, while Thong had three steals to lead Northwest.
FINAL REGULAR SEASON GAME
Northwest will return home for its final regular season game today (Thursday) to take on the region top seed Gillette (26-2 overall, 9-1 Region IX North).
With a win the Trappers would lock up a top three spot and knock Gillette potentially out of the top seed to host the Region IX tournament, while a loss would have the Trappers needing Western Wyoming to lose two contests to avoid the four seed. The Trappers have already earned a home play-in game next week.
Despite seeding implications, coach Ward said the main focus for the Trappers will be on defensive intensity and finishing strong before hitting the postseason.
"Rather than focusing on the outcome of the win-loss, what I'm a lot more interested in is seeing us really compete, play with a level of intensity defensively that we haven't done in a little while," Ward said. "That's my challenge to the guys, just really do a good job defensively. Play with a high level and intensity for 40 minutes."
CASPER COLLEGE 99, NORTHWEST 83
Total rebounds then offensive rebounds in ()
Points — Colin Hayes 27, Tessi Thong 17, Preston Condie 10, Trey Rinn 9, Eli Patterson 8, Drew Larson 7, Kaden Christensen 4, Tate Monroe 1
Rebounds — Kaden Christensen 5 (2), Tessi Thong 4 (1), Drew Larson 4, Eli Patterson 4 (4), Preston Condie 3 (1), Trey Rinn 1 (1), Colin Hayes 1 (1), Tate Monroe 1
Assists — Tessi Thong 4, Drew Larson 2, Colin Hayes 2, Eli Patterson 2, Preston Condie 1
Steals — Drew Larson 5, Tessi Thong 1, Preston Condie 1, Eli Patterson 1
WESTERN WYOMING 91, NORTHWEST 69
Points — Colin Hayes 12, Drew Larson 10, Tate Monroe 9, Tessi Thong 8, Trey Rinn 8, Preston Condie 7, Carter Clark 5, Eli Patterson 4, Ants-Kristjan Kalmus 4, Eli Patterson 4, Kaden Christensen 2
Rebounds — Drew Larson 11 (2), Tate Monroe 4 (4), Tessi Thong 3 (1), Kaden Christensen 3 (1), Eli Patterson 3 (1), Preston Condie 2 (1), Trey Rinn 2, Ruben Bos 2 (1), Colin Hayes 1
Assists — Tessi Thong 3, Eli Patterson 3, Trey Rinn 2, Tate Monroe 2, Preston Condie 1, Colin Hayes 1
Steals — Tessi Thong 3, Trey Rinn 2, Colin Hayes 2, Preston Condie 1, Drew Larson 1, Ruben Bos 1, Ants-Kristjan Kalmus 1
Blocks — Preston Condie 1, Colin Hayes 1, Ruben Bos 1
REGION IX STANDINGS
Overall record then Region IX record
1. Gillette College 26-2, 9-1
2. Casper College 21-6, 8-2
3. Northwest 18-10, 6-5
4. Western Wyoming 14-14, 5-5
5. Laramie County Community College 11-17, 4-6
6. Central Wyoming 8-20, 3-8
7. Eastern Wyoming 5-22, 1-9