Road games remain an early season challenge for the Northwest College men’s basketball team.

The Trapper men lost a pair of contests over the weekend. The squad fell to a talented Trinidad State College team 102-88 in Trinidad, Colorado, Friday night and then went cold in the second half en route to an 88-65 loss Saturday to Air Force Prep in Colorado Springs.

The pair of defeats dropped the NWC men to 3-5 for the season. All five losses have come away from home, where the Trappers are 3-0.

NWC head coach Jay Collins still likes the effort of his team.

“We’re going to be fun to watch,” he said. “These guys have bought in.”

At Trinidad, the Trappers held their own in a high-scoring affair.

“Trinidad State is a very good team,” Collins said. “Most of the people I’ve talked to say they’re one of the top teams in the south of Region IX.  We hung close, but couldn’t get over the top.”

The Trappers trailed by four points at halftime and actually came back to take the lead in the second half before getting into foul trouble.

“They’re trying. We lost a tough one,” Collins lamented.

Freshman Josh Petteno of Venice, Italy, continued his torrid scoring. He had 24 points to pace the Trappers.

“Josh played real well,” Collins said. “He’s lights out as a shooter.”

Redshirt sophomore Kyle Brown added 18 points for Northwest.

“He’s our best guy at getting to the free throw line,” Collins said.

Sophomore Seth Mason and freshman Jerome Mabry each chipped in with 12 points. Mabry had 10 rebounds at Trinidad.

On Saturday against Air Force Prep, second half blues again cost the Trappers.

Northwest led 53-50 at the half, “but we had some real foul trouble in the second half that cost us,” Collins said.

The game was much closer than the final score indicated, Collins said. It’s hard to even reconstruct the scoring, because no stat sheets were provided at Air Force Prep, he added.

“Seth [Mason] fouled out with 16 minutes to go, and we were down seven. They went on a 10-0 run when Seth fouled out,” Collins said of the 6 foot, 8 inch sophomore. “Seth gives a threat down low that we missed. We had a hard time scoring at all in the second half.”

Brown paced the Trapper scoring with 22 points. Petteno added 12.

The Trappers will play two games this weekend in a Sheridan Thanksgiving tournament, hoping to break into the win column on out-of-town hardwood. The NWC men will have a rematch with the Rocky Mountain College JV at 2 p.m. Friday, then take on Little Big Horn College at 3 p.m. Saturday.