Defending region champs depending on new wave of freshmen

The defending Region IX men’s basketball champions enter the 2015-16 season without a national ranking and many of the players that led them to a deep tournament run.

Neither that, nor a 1-1 start, has changed the outlook for Northwest College head coach Brian Erickson and the Trappers.

“I think every year you believe that you’re going to win the whole thing. Every team does. If they don’t, there’s something wrong with them,” Erickson said. “I believe we’re going to do it again. We have high hopes and high goals.”

A new cast will have to carry Northwest to a potential sequel season. Chris Boucher, last season’s National Player of the Year (22.5 ppg, 11.8 rpg, 4.7 bpg, 58 FG percentage shooting, 44.4 percent from 3-point range) and William Desilien (21.1 ppg, 54.4 FG percentage, 42.4 3-point percentage) have moved on.

The departure of both Montreal, Canada, products has been met with the addition of three more players from Quebec’s largest city.

“Being younger, our freshmen have to have a big impact. And I think we have some really good freshmen,” Erickson said.

Jordyson Telfort, Joel Maumba and Levi Londole — all of the same Thetford Academy as Boucher and Desilien — made their presences felt in Northwest’s 117-89 win against Impact Academy on Saturday at Western Wyoming’s tournament.

Telfort led NWC with 29 points, Londole scored 21 and Maumba added 14.

“We have some pretty good talent,” Erickson said. “Those three, it’s good that they’ve played together before, so they know how to play together now.”

Sophomore Dan Milota had 19 points and grabbed eight rebounds. Londole led Northwest with 13 boards and Telfort had five.

The Trappers lost their season opener 78-54 to Laramie County at the Western Wyoming Tournament in Rock Springs on Friday.

“It’s a big deal,” Erickson said of the 22-point loss. “But it’s one of those where hopefully we learn from it.”

Laramie County’s zone defense held Northwest to its lowest points total since Jan. 22, 2014, two seasons ago.

“We don’t have a ton of experience going into that game. I was worried about them playing a zone this early in the season and our guys understanding when to attack,” Erickson said. “They tend to think a zone, shoot 3-pointers, not knowing how to attack gaps. We probably weren’t prepared enough (for the zone).”

Erickson said freshman Grantham Gillard was “about the only guy who played really well” against LCCC.

“The biggest thing is what we could learn from it,” Erickson said. “Because we came out that next night and there was a ton of energy, a ton of passion. We didn’t have that first game, I think with us being younger we were a little nervous, a little scared to get out there.”

Grantham, a freshman, and his brother Garrison, a sophomore transfer from the University of Minnesota Duluth, are two more additions expected to make their presence felt from the start.

Erickson singled out Garrison as an instant source of leadership and passion.

“You lose a lot of sophomores and really, where’s your leadership come from? I always expect our sophomores to understand. They know what it takes,” Erickson said. “Garrison hasn’t missed a beat.”

Garrison Gillard and fellow sophomores Jordon Rood and Levi Peterson have been tapped as this season’s captains.

Erickson acknowledged that if the Trappers regain the greatness they had last season, it won’t happen immediately.

With so many new talents to integrate into the system, starting lineups and rotations won’t be set for a while.

“It’s going to take us some time. It does every year,” Erickson said. “Each night we could have a different high-scorer and a different leading guy with rebounds.”

The Elite Eight appearance and national accolades from last season won’t have an affect on this incarnation of the Trappers, Erickson said.

“Last year was a special year, but I don’t think there’s any pressure or anything like that,” Erickson said. “Having guys come in, I think it’s ‘Hey, they did this, we’re going to do it again.’”

The Trappers will look to get over .500 with two road games this weekend.

They travel to Bismarck, North Dakota, for an 8 p.m. tip against Bismarck State, and then take on United Tribes Technical College at Bismark at 2 p.m. on Saturday.

“It’s trying to improve on the weekend before. We had the first game, and struggled. We changed a lot of things from game one to game two,” Erickson said. “Our bench was just 100 times better. We ran the floor better. We did so many things a lot better. But we’re watching film and we’re not doing things well enough.”