Countless hours spent in the gym, many of them in the same facility where he signed his Letter of Intent last month, paid off for Powell High School senior Gunnar Erickson, who will continue his basketball career right at home at Northwest College next season.

“I feel like this was always my choice regardless,” Erickson said.

This past season Erickson was an All-State selection for the Powell Panthers, leading them in scoring and helping earn the program its first state title in 26 years with an undefeated 26-0 campaign.

Erickson was fourth in class 3A this past season in scoring at 14.2 points per game, also finishing fourth in steals at 2.7 per game.

He was the fifth Panther in school history to pass the 1,000 point scoring mark — ending his career with 1,021 points.

His scoring was paced behind strong 3-point shooting as well as attacks at the rim. He finished with 107 3-pointers, which is the fourth most in school history.

It was his first All-State selection after being named All-Conference during his junior year.

Continuing his career at Northwest was an easy decision for Erickson, as his father Brian was formerly the men’s basketball coach and has been the athletic director since 2018.

“I’ve been with Northwest forever,” Erickson said. “Dad has been coaching here forever, it feels like it was the right choice to stay here and keep playing in the place I grew up with.”

He will join a team that finished the season with a 14-18 record, but is expected to return several freshmen from last year’s team after only having three rostered sophomores at the end of the season.

Another connection for Erickson is the fact that coach Andy Ward served as his dad’s and uncle’s coach in college at Eastern Wyoming just over 20 years ago.

Moving to the next level, Erickson knows that the level of physicality and intensity will increase, with him being up to the challenge to earn a spot at the junior college level.

“It’ll be hard. I just need to keep working hard,” Erickson said. “Playing time is really up to myself, it depends on how much effort I put in. If I want it I’ll go get it.”

Stepping onto the court at Cabre Gym next season, Erickson will still get to see familiar faces who have cheered him on for years at PHS, but he knows the feeling will be different competing for Northwest.

“It will be different,” Erickson said. “I’m so used to playing in high school but it will be so nice to get a chance to play in this gym instead of watching.”