NWC MEN STUMBLE ON THE ROAD

BY SETH ROMSA TRIBUNE SPORTS WRITER
Courtesy of the Powell Tribune

A narrow overtime loss followed by a disappointing performance led to two road losses for the Northwest College men's basketball team, which lost to Eastern Wyoming College 78-73 in overtime on Thursday before trailing the entire contest in a 99-63 loss to Laramie County Community College on Saturday.     

EASTERN WYOMING 78, NORTHWEST 73 (OT)
Starting the long road trip the Trappers (15-11 overall, 4-4 Region IX North) headed to Torrington to take on the Lancers (5-19 overall, 2-4 Region IX North).
Early on the Trappers held a slim advantage, up 11-7 five minutes in after a Trey Rinn 3-pointer.
Neither team found scoring over the next five minutes, as the Trappers only mustered two points but held a slim 13-11 lead midway through the first half.
Over the next five minutes Northwest stretched its lead back out further, making it a 23-17 contest after two free throws by Logan Woolstenhulme following a technical on the Eastern coach.
The Lancers narrowed the gap once again, cutting it down to a single possession at 28-25 at the break.
Eastern came out of the locker room strong, quickly taking the lead and extending it to 37-30 inside the first 3:30 minutes.
Northwest attempted to cut into the lead, but Eastern had an answer each time as the hosts held a 47-40 lead with 12 minutes left.
The Trappers continued to battle back, and eventually tied the contest on a Woolstenhulme layup with five minutes left.
Responses came from both teams, until late in the contest when the Lancers held a 65-63 lead as the Trappers retained possession with 13 seconds left and called a timeout.
Travis Theran Archibald got a 3-pointer off in the corner, and was fouled on the landing, resulting in three shots at the line.
He made the first two, but after a timeout by Eastern, he missed the third free throw and the two teams were tied at 65 with 10 seconds left.
The Lancers got off a shot, but it was no good as the two teams went to overtime.
The Trappers scored the first two in overtime, before the Lancers scored five straight to hold a 70-67 lead.
Northwest cut it to one, and eventually found a way to tie it at 73 on a putback by Woolstenhulme with 1:30 remaining.
Northwest was unable to score down the stretch, as the Lancers took the 78-73 win.
"We didn't shoot the ball well enough. I thought defensively we did a really good job in a lot of ways. We finished with 18 steals, we turned them over 25 times. Typically that would generate into some high percentage shots," coach Andy Ward said. "We just didn't convert. We didn't shoot the ball well from the arc … It was the offensive side of things. We just didn't perform very well."
Woolstenhulme led with 18 points, Mateo Trujillo had 17 and Braydon Bradshaw added 12.
Woolstenhulme led with eight rebounds, Trujillo led with three assists and tied for the team lead with Nayel Girard for steals with four each. Woolstenhulme and Archibald each had a block.    

LCCC 99, NORTHWEST 63
Heading into Saturday the Trappers took on the Golden Eagles (12-10 overall, 5-2 Region IX North).
In a contest the Trappers needed to win to rebound from Friday's loss nothing went right from the start, as they trailed 8-0 inside the first two minutes.
LCCC grew its lead quickly, and held a 21-4 advantage after the first five minutes.
The hosts pushed the lead over 20 as it hovered around that mark for much of the first half, before a late push by the Golden Eagles made it 57-22 at the break.
"They made us pay. They played really well, it was over early. They really jumped out on us and we just never recovered," Ward said.
Early in the second half the lead surpassed 40, as the Trappers couldn't find any way back in the contest and fell 99-63.
"They're a good team … We played them here in a tight one in overtime. We came out maybe still a little fragile from Eastern," Ward said. "We just struggled again from the field. I think the two nights on the road we
were 3-18 and 3-19 from 3-point range."
Bradshaw led with 16 points and tied for the team lead in rebounds with six alongside Woolstenhulme.
Rinn led with three assists, Eli Patterson led with two steals and Girard had the lone block.    

IMPORTANT WEEK AHEAD
The Trappers return home this week for their final two  games of the season, needing wins to improve seeding before the postseason starts in a couple of weeks.
Northwest starts with Gillette College (11-11 overall, 4-3 Region IX North) at 4 p.m. on Saturday; the Trappers escaped with a 60-58 win over the Pronghorns in late January.
"The message is to shoot the ball better. Scoring the ball solves a lot of problems. I talked to the guys about, if you're not confident, don't shoot it. You can't hope that the ball goes in. You've got to shoot with confidence," Ward said. "This is an important one (game). No. 1 because it's our next one. We're coming off three losses in a row. We need to try to get back on track here at home … We've got to control what we can control."
Northwest then hosts Central Wyoming College (8-14 overall, 2-5 Region IX North) at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday.
The Trappers fell to the Rustlers 79-69 on the road in January.    

EASTERN WYOMING 78, NORTHWEST 73 (OT)
Total rebounds then offensive rebounds in ()
Points — Logan Woolstenhulme 18, Mateo Trujillo 17, Braydon Bradshaw 12, Nayel Girard 7, Trey Rinn 6, Travis Theran Archibald 5, Eli Patterson 4, R'Zha Zha'Quire Whittle 4
Rebounds — Logan Woolstenhulme 8 (2), Nayel Girard 4, Mateo Trujillo 3, Braydon Bradshaw 3 (2), Travis Theran Archibald 3, R'Zha Zha'Quire Whittle 3 (1), Trey Rinn 2 (2), Tate Monroe 2, Eli Patterson 1 (1)
Assists — Mateo Trujillo 3, Nayel Girard 2, Trey Rinn 1, Braydon Bradshaw 1, Tate Monroe 1, R'Zha Zha'Quire Whittle 1
Steals — Mateo Trujillo 4, Nayel Girard 4, Braydon Bradshaw 3, Travis Theran Archibald 2, R'Zha Zha'Quire Whittle 2, Logan Woolstenhulme 1, Trey Rinn 1, Tate Monroe 1
Blocks — Logan Woolstenhulme 1, Travis Theran Archibald 1    

LCCC 99, NORTHWEST 63
Points — Braydon Bradshaw 16, Logan Woolstenhulme 9, R'Zha Zha'Quire Whittle 9, Eli Patterson 8, Nayel Girard 7, Travis Theran Archibald 5, Isaac Wolfe 4, John Hendricks 3, Mateo Trujillo 2
Rebounds — Braydon Bradshaw 6 (3), Logan Woolstenhulme 6 (1), Nayel Girard 5 (2), Trey Rinn 5 (1), Isaac Wolfe 2, John Hendricks 2 (2), R'Zha Zha'Quire Whittle 2 (1), Mateo Trujillo 1, Eli Patterson 1 (1)
Assists — Trey Rinn 3, Mateo Trujillo 2, Nayel Girard 1, Eli Patterson 1, Braydon Bradshaw 1, Logan Woolstenhulme 1
Steals — Eli Patterson 2, Trey Rinn 1
Blocks — Nayel Girard 1