When tragedy struck in late July the Northwest men’s basketball players were left reeling from the loss of their coach. Now, the Trappers have found a way to honor former coach Jay Collins by hosting the first Jay Collins Memorial Tournament this weekend at Cabre Gym.

“We wanted to do this in his honor,” coach Andy Ward said. “We didn’t know if we could get it done this year and we worked hard to make something happen.”

Big Horn Federal, the Trapper Booster Club and a tournament committee helped to turn around and sponsor the tournament in just three months of planning.

All funds generated at the tournament will be funneled into the Jay Collins Memorial Scholarship, which will be granted to one player on the team each year.

In addition to the scholarship, there will be the Heart of a Champion award which will be given to one player each year.

Since it is the first year, the team will honor Andre Loigu, David Ayala, Juan Pablo Camargo Tellez and Kolter Merritt, who were all on the team under Collins last season.

Merritt will also be the recipient of the first scholarship.

“The scholarship has already generated some money,” Ward said. “It is a small amount, but we wanted to reward somebody. We felt Kolter exhibits things that Jay really valued. He’s tough, hardworking and is for the team through and through.”

He said any player on the team could have received it, but felt Collins would have approved of Merritt being the first recipient.

One of Collins’ best friends will be in attendance and has compiled a slideshow of Collins to be shown during halftime of the men’s game on Friday. A silent auction will also be held with proceeds going to the scholarship fund.

On Friday the women’s team tips off at 5:30 p.m. against the All-Stars while the men tip off against the All-Stars at 7:30 p.m.

Heading into Saturday the women tip off against the Carroll College JV at 2 p.m. while the men play Jump Start Academy at 4 p.m.

In the program, there will be a dedication to Collins and a link that those in attendance can go to in order to donate to the scholarship endowment. Those unable to attend who would like to donate can go to www.nwccollegefoundation.org/jay-collins

All awards and presentations will be Friday night at halftime of the men’s game.

“We hope to grow it and make it more and more special as the years go on,” Ward said. “It was a challenge but we wanted to make it happen this year if we could. We found that window of opportunity with dates that worked, scrambled to find opponents that late but we are really excited to put it on. I know Jay would appreciate it.”