The first week of February was a rough one for the Northwest College men’s basketball team, as they dropped games at home against Casper College (74-58) and on the road against Gillette (101-76), with the Region IX Tournament looming on the horizon.

The Trappers are now 15-9 on the season, 3-5 in conference.

“I think we have a bit of an identity crisis sometimes; we forget who we are and what we do,” said NWC head coach Brian Erickson. “We kind of played that way on Wednesday (Feb. 1) against Casper. We were better Saturday against Gillette, honestly. Even though we got drilled, we played a lot better together, with guys doing their jobs. Our defense was just really bad. We fixed a lot of things, but we lost something too. Our defense just went out the door.”

Casper 74, NWC 58

Leading up to the rematch against Casper (19-5, 7-2), Erickson told his team the key to beating the visiting Thunderbirds was to slow the tempo and work the shot clock. For about 25 minutes, NWC did just that.

Casper was able to adjust, however, pulling away in the second half for a 74-58 win that was closer than the score might indicate.

“We were able to run our offense well in the first half,” said NWC Assistant Coach Greg Bennett. “We were driving well, dishing it off. Our defense looked pretty solid; we were in good shape.”

The game got off to a slow start, with neither team able to score in the first three minutes. Casper finally broke the spell, sinking a deep 3-pointer for the first points of the game. Levi Londole answered with a jumper to put the Trappers on the board, beginning what would be a back-and-forth first half.

Sukhjot Bains and Londole led the way early for NWC, with a mixture of outside shooting and aggressive play underneath the basket to give the Trappers a 16-13 lead.

Casper refused to go away, answering every shot with one of their own and tying the game at 20 with four minutes to go in the half. The teams continued to trade shots until the buzzer, with NWC heading to the locker room up 27-26.

“When we skipped and moved the ball, drove that lane and skipped out and knocked down the 3s, that was working for us,” Bennett said. “When we took the high-percentage shots and set our feet well, skipped the ball, drive and dish, we were able to capitalize on it.”

The Trappers were able to extend their lead to five at the start of the second half, 31-26. That would be the largest lead of the game for NWC, as Casper rattled off six straight points, four off of turnovers, to re-take the lead 32-31. They wouldn’t trail again.

“When we got away from playing our game, things didn’t go so hot for us,” Bennett said.

With 11 minutes left in the game, Casper pushed their lead to double digits, 45-35. The Trappers pulled within nine points with five minutes left, 54-45, but couldn’t answer the T-Birds’ 3-point shooting.

“The second half we just decided to kind of throw our hands in the air,” Bennett said. “We can’t do that, it’s selfish basketball. We have to play team basketball and come together as one and try to peak at the right time.”

Bains and Londole were the only players in double figures for the Trappers, with 16 and 14 points respectively. Jonathan Koud netted six points, while Skyler Zabriskie and Marshall McArthur chipped in five apiece.

Tanner Coleman was perfect from behind the arc, finishing with three points.

The Trappers finished with five 3-pointers, and were out-rebounded by Casper 37-28. NWC shot 68 percent on free throws, 23 percent on 3-point shots and 51 percent from the field, compared to Casper’s 61 percent on free throws, 37 percent on 3-point shots and 36 percent from the field. The Trappers had 12 turnovers compared to 13 for the T-Birds.

Gillette 101, NWC 76

Following the loss to Casper, the Trappers traveled to Gillette (22-2, 7-1) Saturday. The Pronghorns were as good as advertised, shredding NWC’s defense for a 101-71 win, though Erickson saw positives.

“We were moving the ball more, attacking more,” Erickson said. “We were just way too passive. We need to work on being more aggressive, creating more opportunities for shots. We have a long way to go.”

For the second game in a row, the Trappers had only two players finish in double figures, led by Skyler Zabriskie’s 15 points on 5-7 shooting from behind the 3-point line. Marshall McArthur followed with 12 points to go along with his team-high seven rebounds and two assists.

Blake Hinze netted nine points, while Jonathan Koud and Carter Baxter had eight points apiece. Baxter led the team with four assists.

Gillette’s Ted McCree led all scorers with 25 points, while teammate Abdul Mohamed finished with 18. Daniel Regis recorded a double-double with 10 points and 15 rebounds.

The Trappers finished with seven 3-pointers, and were out-rebounded by Gillette 39-48. NWC shot 61 percent on free throws, 37 percent on 3-point shots and 51 percent from the field, compared to Gillette’s 61 percent on free throws, 37 percent on 3-point shots and 45 percent from the field. The Trappers had 17 turnovers compared to nine for the Pronghorns.

The Trappers hosted Sheridan College Wednesday and are right back at it today (Thursday), hosting Little Big Horn College. Erickson said he and his staff were pleased with how the team practiced this week, and he’s confident they will finish out the season strong.

“As a staff, we’ve given them everything they need to be successful,” Erickson said. “The weight is on their shoulders, and I think they like it that way. They realize this is their team; they’re understanding that. Now we just have to play 40 minutes, that’s still our goal.”

The Trappers will travel to Miles City next Wednesday, Feb. 15, to take on the Pioneers.