Heading back out on the road last Saturday, the Northwest College men’s basketball team made the trip to Casper — dropping the contest 98-65 and moving to 4-1 in the Region IX North.

CASPER COLLEGE 98, NORTHWEST 65

In the second matchup of the year between the two teams, cooler heads prevailed early and throughout, with the Trappers (17-8 overall, 4-1 Region IX North) and Thunderbirds (20-5 overall, 5-1 Region IX North) battling for control early in the contest.

Both teams struggled to find the basket early on, as Northwest held a slim 7-6 lead after the first four minutes.

Over the next six minutes the Thunderbirds heated up from the field, outpacing the Trappers and opening up a 27-15 lead heading into the media timeout midway through the half.

Northwest cut into the lead multiple times over the next five minutes, but Casper College never allowed the Trappers within a possession — answering the Trapper response to keep the lead at multiple possessions.

“This team has been good at staying the course and fighting through adversity. We just didn’t do a good enough job of that, [Casper] got in a groove and got more comfortable,” coach Andy Ward said.

Casper pushed the lead back out to double digits with under a minute remaining in the half, but a 3-pointer by David Ayala just before the buzzer cut the lead to 44-37 heading into the locker room.

Northwest whittled the lead down to five to start the second half, but a quick run by Casper pushed it back out to double digits.

Despite continuing to trail by double digits the Trappers remained in the contest down 67-56 with nine minutes left.

An extended run over the next 3:30 saw Casper break it open, outscoring the Trappers 16-0 to take an 83-56 lead.

“They made some runs in the latter part of the game and we kind of panicked and took some early shots while turning the ball over,” Ward said.

The bleeding was stopped by a Mack Page layup with 5:24 left in the game.

Casper continued its hot shooting, running away from the Trappers after outscoring them 31-9 over the final nine minutes for a final score of 98-65.

Northwest finished 22-56 (39.3%) from the field and 2-15 (13.3%) from 3-point range in the game.

It was the third worst shooting percentage in a game overall this season for the Trappers, and worst from 3-point range all season.

“It wasn’t our best night shooting the ball,” Ward said. “Maybe we were rushing it and trying to take shots too early. We have been, it didn’t show in that game, working on offensive execution when we don’t have something in transition.”

Casper finished 36-67 (53.7%) from the field and 10-24 (41.7%) from 3-point range and finished with only six turnovers in the game compared to 14 for the Trappers.

The loss was the first for the Trappers in Region IX North play, and placed Northwest a half game behind the Thunderbirds in the standings since Northwest has had one game rescheduled.

Davion McAdam led the Trappers with 22, followed by Page with 14 as the other Northwest player in double figures.

SECOND HALF BLITZ

Northwest now heads into the second half of the Region IX schedule, and was scheduled to take on Eastern Wyoming (6-20 overall, 1-5 Region IX North) at home on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m.

“Eastern is a dangerous team and has a lot of guys that can score,” Ward said. “We are going to have to do a good job defensively, rebound the ball and take care of it.”

That game was postponed from Wednesday night and is intended to be made up Thursday (tonight) at 7:30 p.m. if roads are open to travel from Torrington.

Northwest heads back on the road Saturday, making the trip to Rock Springs to take on Western Wyoming (15-10 overall, 2-3 Region IX North).

That will be the Trappers’ final game of the week, before finishing with three games in five days starting next Thursday, Feb. 23.

CASPER COLLEGE 98, NORTHWEST 65

Total rebounds then offensive rebounds in ()

Points — Davion McAdam 22, Mack Page 14, Yannice Nlend 9, David Ayala 6, Will Hemme 3, Brash Emery 3, Juan Pablo Camargo 2, Milton Rodriguez Santana 2, Christian Adun 2, Kolter Merritt 2

Rebounds — Christian Adun 7 (3), Mack Page 6 (2), Davion McAdam 5 (1), Yannice Nlend 4, David Ayala 2 (1), Kolter Merritt 2, Juan Pablo Camargo 1, Miton Rodriguez Santana 1, Will Hemme 1 (1)

Assists — Mack Page 3, David Ayala 2, Yannice Nlend 1, Brash Emery 1, Antwon Logan 1

Steals — Yannice Nlend 1

Blocks — Juan Pablo Camargo 1