First half struggles led to a large deficit at the break for the Northwest College men’s basketball team, and a late comeback came up short as the Trappers fell against Gillette College 83-77 on the road Saturday.

GILLETTE COLLEGE 83, NORTHWEST 77

Continuing through Region IX play the Trappers (15-8 overall, 3-3 Region IX North) matched up with one of the top teams in the conference in the Pronghorns (21-2 overall, 4-1 Region IX North).

Gillette came out scoring while Northwest started slow, as the Pronghorns held a 14-5 lead five minutes in.

Northwest started scoring more efficiently, but the Pronghorns made it a double digit contest at 19-9 with 13 minutes left in the half.

Over the next five minutes the Pronghorns kept pushing, making it a 30-14 game with eight minutes left in the half as Northwest searched for answers.

The lead reached as many as 20 several times, with the Trappers still trailing 41-23 with 3:04 left in the half.

Gillette pushed its lead to 21 just before the break, and the Trappers trailed 48-28 heading into the locker room.

“When we turned the ball over a lot in the first half we dug ourselves a pretty big hole,” coach Andy Ward said. “I just said you can fold, or you can fight.”

In the second half the Pronghorns extended the Trapper deficit to as many as 23.

Northwest finally started making a push in the middle portion of the half, cutting the lead down to 12, trailing 65-53 with 8:30 remaining.

Gillette responded by pushing its advantage back to 21 over the next two minutes as Northwest trailed 76-55 with just over six minutes left.

A 14-2 run over the next two minutes capped by an Eli Patterson free throw got the difference down to single digits as the Trappers trailed 78-69.

“We started pressing. It was either going to be one of two things in my mind. We’d either try to claw back in, turn them over and get some easy baskets,” Ward said. “Or, when you press there’s some risk involved. If they were breaking it effectively, then they would have had numbers on the other end, but we did a good job in it. We found ourselves right back in the game.”

Patterson added a layup shortly after, and Tessi Thong got Northwest within two possessions with another layup trailing 78-73.

Kaden Christensen capped the Northwest charge with a layup, and the Trappers got within a possession trailing 78-75 with just over two minutes remaining.

A dead ball technical foul for a flop was called against the Trappers for a 3-point attempt, which resulted in a free throw for the Pronghorns to make it 79-75 with 1:35 remaining.

“It’s one of those things, just part of the game,” Ward said.

On their possession the Pronghorns hit a layup plus the foul, but a missed free throw kept the score at 81-75.

Gillette missed free throws down the stretch, before a Colin Hayes layup made it 81-77 with 46 seconds left.

Northwest was unable to find a shot to fall to get closer than four, as late free throws made it 83-77.

“It’s always disappointing when you lose. But I told them in the locker room I continue to be encouraged by their resilience and their never quit attitude,” Ward said. 

Drew Larson and Hayes led with 19 points for the Trappers and Thong added 11.

Larson and Trey Rinn each had six rebounds, while Tate Monroe had four assists to lead the Trappers.

RETURN HOME

The Trappers now return home for the first time since mid-January, and will kick off the second half of the Region IX season with a three game homestand this week and next.

Northwest will start with a contest against Eastern Wyoming (5-18 overall, 1-5 Region IX North) at 7:30 p.m. on Friday. The Trappers defeated the Lancers 73-68 in their game in Torrington on Jan. 25.

The Trappers will then take on Laramie County Community College (10-14 overall, 3-3 Region IX North) at 2 p.m. on Saturday. The Trappers defeated the Golden Eagles in Cheyenne 106-95 on Jan. 24.

“I was joking with myself, maybe I ought to tell the team that we’re starting the game down 10-0 because we just haven’t played with urgency at the beginning of the game,” Ward said. “None of them are (easy), but we just need to play with more urgency throughout the game.” 

GILLETTE COLLEGE 83, NORTHWEST 77

Total rebounds then offensive rebounds in ()

Points — Drew Larson 19, Colin Hayes 19, Tessi Thong 11, Trey Rinn 9, Preston Condie 7, Kaden Christensen 5, Eli Patterson 4, Ruben Bos 2, Carter Clark 1

Rebounds — Drew Larson 6 (2), Trey Rinn 6, Eli Patterson 5 (3), Colin Hayes 4 (2), Tessi Thong 2, Preston Condie 2, Tate Monroe 1, Carter Clark 1, Ruben Bos 1 (1), Ants-Kristjan Kalmus 1 (1)

Assists — Tate Monroe 4, Kaden Christensen 2, Tessi Thong 2, Preston Condie 1, Drew Larson 1, Colin Hayes 1, Carter Clark 1

Steals — Colin Hayes 2, Trey Rinn 2, Drew Larson 1, Tate Monroe 1, Eli Patterson 1, Ruben Bos 1

Blocks — Ruben Bos 1