TRAPPERS FALL IN FINAL NONCONFERENCE GAME

BY SETH ROMSA TRIBUNE SPORTS WRITER
Courtesy of the Powell Tribune

The Northwest College men's basketball team, beginning January with a true road test to prepare for the Region IX North schedule, fell to Dawson Community College 92-88 on Saturday.     

DAWSON CC 92, NORTHWEST 88
Opting for a more difficult opponent to start the new year  preparing for conference play, the Trappers (11-7) took on the Buccaneers (13-6).
Early on both teams exchanged the lead, as Braydon Bradshaw gave Northwest the lead 11-10 four minutes in.
Neither team gained a significant advantage over the next four minutes as Dawson led 21-19.
That lead quickly expanded to as many as 10, before Northwest again cut into the lead and trailed 32-30 with seven minutes left after a Travis Theran Archibald 3-pointer.
Northwest was unable to find a way to tie the remainder of the half, and continued to trail 42-39 at the break.
Out of the locker room Northwest immediately tied the game, before the Buccaneers again pushed the lead to 56-49 with 14:35 left.
"I didn't think we did a great job defensively," coach Andy Ward said. "Their dribble penetration I thought hurt us. That was one of our keys going into the game."
The advantage got back to double-digits for the hosts, before the Trappers found a way to trim the lead down to 70-66 with 8:39 remaining after another Archibald 3-pointer.
Dawson again found a way to make it a double-digit lead, holding an 85-75 advantage with 2:33 left.
Northwest caught fire late, going on a 7-0 run over the next minute to make it 85-82 after a Mateo Trujillo 3-pointer.
Dawson pushed the lead back to 88-82, before a Logan Woolstenhulme 3-pointer cut it down to 88-85.
"We battled and found a way to get back in it and have a chance. In the end it came down to not guarding and rebounding," Ward said.
The Buccaneers went 1-2 at the line, and another Trujillo 3-pointer made it 89-88 with 13 seconds left.
Northwest had a chance to tie on a 3-pointer down 91-88 with seconds remaining, but one final free throw finished the contest 92-88. 
"I'm glad we played that game. It better prepared us for getting ready for league play," Ward said. "Seeing the glass half full, we shot the ball really well from three. We made 16 threes, ended up shooting 16-36 (44%) from the 3-point arch. Our defense was just that bad. The other positive, especially in light of the way Dawson plays, with a lot of full-court pressure and trapping, we took really good care of the basketball and finished the game with seven turnovers."
Bradshaw led with 19 points, followed closely by Trujillo and Archibald with 17 each while Woolstenhulme added 13.
Bradshaw also led with 10 rebounds to complete his double-double, Trujillo led with eight assists, Eli Patterson and Bradshaw led with two steals each and R'Zha Zha'Quire Whittle had the lone block.    

REGION IX BEGINS
Following a busy nonconference season the Trappers kick off Region IX North action this week, playing three games in the next six days at home.
Northwest starts with a game against Laramie County Community College (7-8) today (Thursday) at 7:30 p.m.
"We've got to get better defensively. I'm hoping that we've got some of the rust off," Ward said. "Laramie County, they've got a good team. They take great care of the basketball, they've got some pretty dynamic guards and pretty good athleticism. It'll be a major test for us. Good thing is we're playing at home, and hopefully we come out and play with more intensity defensively."
The Trappers take Friday off before welcoming in Eastern Wyoming College (3-15) at 4 p.m. on Saturday.
Northwest's busy home week finishes with a game against Western Wyoming Community College (7-10) at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday.    

DAWSON CC 92, NORTHWEST 88
Total rebounds then offensive rebounds in ()
Points — Braydon Bradshaw 19, Mateo Trujillo 17, Travis Theran Archibald 17, Logan Woolstenhulme 13, Trey Rinn 8, Tate Monroe 7, R'Zha Zha'Quire Whittle 7
Rebounds — Braydon Bradshaw 10 (8), Travis Theran Archibald 6 (1), R'Zha Zha'Quire Whittle 5 (4), Logan Woolstenhulme 4, Eli Patterson 3, Trey Rinn 2 (1), Mateo Trujillo 1
Assists — Mateo Trujillo 8, Eli Patterson 3, Isaac Wolfe 3, Logan Woolstenhulme 2, Trey Rinn 1, Braydon Bradshaw 1, Tate Monroe 1, R'Zha Zha'Quire Whittle 1
Steals — Eli Patterson 2, Braydon Bradshaw 2, Mateo Trujillo 1, Trey Rinn 1, Travis Theran Archibald 1
Blocks — R'Zha Zha'Quire Whittle 1