A second half comeback stopped the Northwest College men’s basketball team from starting the season 2-0, as the Trappers defeated the College of Southern Nevada 78-70 before falling on a late 3-pointer to Snow College 73-71 on Saturday.

NORTHWEST 78, COLLEGE OF SOUTHERN NEVADA 70

Starting with a neutral site game on Friday the Trappers (1-1) took on the Coyotes (1-1).

The Trappers held a slim advantage in the first five minutes, as they led 11-10.

CSN pulled ahead establishing a lead, and the Trappers trailed 23-17 midway through the half.

Northwest regained the lead through a 13-2 stretch, as the Trappers led 30-25 with just under five minutes left in the half.

Both teams maintained their scoring, but a 3-pointer by Nayel Girard at the buzzer gave the Trappers a 38-35 advantage heading into the locker room.

The Coyotes pulled ahead early in the second half, as the Trappers trailed 45-43 five minutes in.

Scoring slowed down over the next five minutes, as Northwest leveled the score at 49 midway through the second half.

The Trappers kept it close, and ultimately took the lead for good on a Mateo Trujillo 3-pointer with 5:37 left to make it 60-57.

CSN pulled back within a point at 67-66, but a Travis Theran Archibald 3-pointer helped spark an 11-4 stretch to end the game as Northwest won 78-70.

“I thought our guys competed. Thought they played really hard,” coach Andy Ward said. “We didn’t always play as smart as we needed to, but I thought their effort was really good.”

Trujillo led Northwest with 17 points, as Girard had 12 and led with seven assists as well as three steals.

Braydon Bradshaw and R’Zha Zha’Quire Whittle tied for the team lead with seven rebounds each. Archibald recorded two blocks in the contest.

SNOW COLLEGE 73, NORTHWEST 71

Continuing on Saturday against the hosts the Trappers took on the Badgers (2-1).

Northwest built a 9-0 advantage over the first four minutes.

The lead quickly swelled to double-digits at 13-2 on a Bradshaw layup just over five minutes in.

Northwest maintained that advantage midway through, as the Trappers led 20-10.

Heading into halftime the Trappers continued to lead 32-23.

Whittle’s layup pushed the advantage to 44-26, the largest of the game with 17 minutes left.

Despite a strong push from the hosts, Northwest maintained a 57-47 lead midway through the half.

Another push brought the hosts within striking distance, as the Trappers clung on to a 67-65 lead with 2:06 left.

Snow finally took the first lead of the game with 1:25 left, before the teams exchanged the lead four times over the final minute.

Northwest led with 24 seconds left on a Bradshaw tip-in, and the Trappers stopped the initial final play from the Badgers, but an offensive rebound and kick-out led to a 3-pointer with two seconds left and Snow took the game 73-71.

“It was frustrating to lose that game,” Ward said. “We can learn from that. We’ve got to do a better job of playing with a lead, playing on a possessional basis. We’ve got to do a better job rebounding the ball.”

Whittle led with 20 points, as Bradshaw added a 14 point, 10 rebound double-double.

Trujillo and Archibald each added 13, as Girard led with eight assists, and tied for the team lead with three steals and two blocks. Trujillo also had three steals while Bradshaw and Jayden Bunker each had two blocks.

MONTANA ROAD TRIP

Northwest now heads into Montana for a trio of games, starting with Dawson Community College (2-1) at 5 p.m. today (Thursday).

“Right now we have 19% of our possessions resulting in turnovers, and for us to play winning basketball we need to try and get that down to 12% or less,” Ward said. “So we’ve got some work to do there.”

The Trappers then head to Miles City to take on Miles Community College (4-0) at 7 p.m. on Friday, before staying in Miles City to take on the Bismarck State JV at noon on Saturday.

“I’m concerned about the Trappers. Us making steady improvement, playing on a possessional basis,” Ward said.

NORTHWEST 78, COLLEGE OF SOUTHERN NEVADA 70

Total rebounds then offensive rebounds in ()

Points — Mateo Trujillo 17, Nayel Girard 12, Travis Theran Archibald 9, Braydon Bradshaw 8, R’Zha Zha’Quire Whittle 8, Collin Roberts 8, Gunnar Erickson 8, Theo Sourin 4, Brady Cook 2, Alex Jordan 2

Rebounds — Braydon Bradshaw 7 (4), R’Zha Zha’Quire Whittle 7 (2), Travis Theran Archibald 5, Nayel Girard 4 (1), Collin Roberts 3 (1), Gunnar Erickson 3 (1), Brady Cook 3 (1), Theo Sourin 2 (2), Alex Jordan 2, Mateo Trujillo 1

Assists — Nayel Girard 7, Mateo Trujillo 3, Travis Theran Archibald 2, Braydon Bradshaw 2, Collin Roberts 2, R’Zha Zha’Quire Whittle 1, Gunnar Erickson 1, Jayden Bunker 1, Alex Jordan 1

Steals — Nayel Girard 3, Collin Roberts 2, Travis Theran Archibald 1, Braydon Bradshaw 1, Theo Sourin 1, Alex Jordan 1

Blocks — Travis Theran Archibald 2

SNOW COLLEGE 73, NORTHWEST 71

Points — R’Zha Zha’Quire Whittle 20, Braydon Bradshaw 14, Mateo Trujillo 13, Travis Theran Archibald 13, Nayel Girard 9, Theo Sourin 2

Rebounds — Braydon Bradshaw 10 (3), R’Zha Zha’Quire Whittle 8 (3), Nayel Girard 6 (2), Jayden Bunker 6 (2), Mateo Trujillo 4, Travis Theran Archibald 2 (1), Gunnar Erickson 2

Assists — Nayel Girard 8, Mateo Trujillo 4, Travis Theran Archibald 1, Brady Cook 1

Steals — Nayel Girard 3, Mateo Trujillo 3, Braydon Bradshaw 1, Theo Sourin 1

Blocks — Nayel Girard 2, Braydon Bradshaw 2, Jayden Bunker 2