Playing for seeding in the final game of the regular season, the Northwest College men’s basketball team came up short  against Gillette College on Feb. 27. The Trappers lost 87-82 in overtime to the visiting Pronghorns.

“The guys played a solid enough game to have a chance to win against a good team, but came up short,” said NWC coach Andy Ward. “We’ve talked about it all year — how many games are decided by one possession or two? … If we had played just one possession a little better in that regulation it may not have gone to overtime.”

GILLETTE COLLEGE 87, NORTHWEST 82 (OT)

The Trappers (18-11 overall, 6-6 Region IX North) went into the contest needing a win to hold onto the No. 3 seed for the Region IX play-in games, while the Pronghorns (27-3 overall, 10-2 Region IX North) were seeking a victory to lock up the No. 1 seed for hosting rights and a first round bye.

Scoring was hard to come by for either team early in the contest on Thursday, as Gillette held a narrow 6-5 lead four minutes into the game.

Over the next six minutes the scoring picked up slightly, with the Trappers taking a slim 16-14 lead with 10:20 remaining on a Ruben Bos dunk.

The two teams exchanged baskets back and forth, with neither creating much separation as the visitors led 28-26 with 5:35 left in the half.

Gillette started to find that separation late in the half, building its advantage out to 41-34 at the break after a late 3-pointer.

Northwest immediately came out in the second half and hit two straight 3-pointers by Drew Larson and Preston Condie to cut the lead to one, then tied it at 43 after another Condie 3-pointer with 17:41 left in the game.

The Trappers continued that momentum to take a 55-50 lead on a Tessi Thong 3-pointer with 14:04 remaining.

“In a lot of ways we played well. We shot the ball well,” coach Ward said. “I wish we would have shot a little bit better from the free throw line than we did. We had our chances.”

Northwest led by as many as seven, but a 13-3 stretch by Gillette made it a 64-60 game midway through the second half.

The Pronghorns maintained their advantage until late in the game, holding a 75-71 lead until 2:42 remaining.

Northwest then used a free throw by Colin Hayes to pull within a single possession, before Larson tied the contest with 45 seconds remaining.

Gillette had chances down the stretch to win thanks to offensive rebounds, but was unable to make a basket and the game went into overtime knotted at 75 a piece.

After an initial turnover leading to a basket to start the extra period, the Trappers took the lead on a Condie 3-pointer, and held the lead at 80-78.

Offensive rebounds gave both teams several chances to take the lead, with Northwest up 82-81 with 1:45 remaining. However, a jumper coupled with free throws down the stretch allowed Gillette to pull away in the final 30 seconds and earn the 87-82 win.

“I thought we did some good things. I thought for the most part we controlled the tempo,” Ward said. “It came down to that overtime period: We didn’t get enough shots, we turned the ball over … I thought defensively we were pretty good, but some of our turnovers resulted in direct points and so we didn’t have a chance to set our defense.”

Condie led the Trappers with 22 points, Larson had 20 and seven rebounds alongside three steals and Thong had 15 points with a team-leading five assists.

PLAY-IN GAME

After the loss at home, the Trappers now head into the postseason on a three-game losing streak, but will look to reverse course against the team they most recently beat.

That team — coming to Powell at 4 p.m. on Saturday — is Central Wyoming College (9-20 overall, 4-8 Region IX North), as the two squads match up as the No. 4 and No. 5 seeds.

“They are really well coached, they play really hard,” Ward said of CWC. “They play differently than other teams in our league, they have a unique attack. Usually play a lower possession game, they are really disciplined in their offense, gritty and tough defensively.”

The Rustlers defeated the Trappers 55-52 in Riverton on Jan. 28 before the Trappers got revenge 72-43 in Powell on Feb. 13.

“What I want us to do is what we’ve talked about all year: Win in four areas — take more good shots than they do, win in the turnover category, win at the free throw line and win in rebounding,” Ward said. “I think if we do those four things, you certainly can still lose a game, but it doesn’t happen very often.”

He added that, “It’s the postseason now, and if you slip up, you’re done.”

The winner of that contest will make the trip to Gillette next week to take part in the Region IX tournament.

GILLETTE COLLEGE 87, NORTHWEST 82 (OT)

Total rebounds then offensive rebounds in ()

Points — Preston Condie 22, Drew Larson 20, Tessi Thong 15, Colin Hayes 9, Trey Rinn 8, Eli Patterson 5, Ruben Bos 3

Rebounds — Drew Larson 7 (2), Colin Hayes 6 (1), Eli Patterson 4 (2), Trey Rinn 2, Kaden Christensen 1 (1), Preston Condie 1, Tate Monroe 1, Ruben Bos 1 (1), Ants-Kristjan Kalmus 1

Assists — Tessi Thong 5, Colin Hayes 4, Kaden Christensen 3, Preston Condie 3, Drew Larson 2

Steals — Drew Larson 3, Colin Hayes 1, Ants-Kristjan Kalmus 1

FIRST ROUND MATCHUPS

SATURDAY

2 p.m. No. 7 Eastern Wyoming at No. 2 Casper College

4 p.m. No. 6 Laramie County Community College at No. 3 Western Wyoming

4 p.m. No. 5 Central Wyoming at No. 4 Northwest