Trawick Tops 1,500 Point Mark; Talks About Upcoming Rivalry Game With Eastern Mennonite
By Steve Cox, Bridgewater College Sports Information Director
Scoring points has never been a problem for Bridgewater College senior guard Dominic Trawick.
Since arriving on campus, the 6-foot-3 guard has led the Eagles in scoring each season. His first year, he averaged 14.7 points and was named the ODAC Freshman of the Year. His average has increased each year and this season, Trawick is averaging more than 20 points per outing. In his most recent game, Trawick scored 22 points against nationally-ranked Guilford College and surpassed the 1,500 point mark for his career - the ninth player in BC men's basketball history to reach the milestone.
"That's quite an accomplishment for Dom," said head coach Don Burgess. "It says a lot about his ability as a player and it also says a lot about his teammates over the past four years who have helped him reach that milestone."
While the points continue to come in bunches, fans and opposing players are seeing a new and improved Trawick this season. According to Burgess, Trawick is now a complete basketball player, not just a scoring machine.
"Dom is truly doing everything for us," Burgess said. "He leads us in scoring, rebounding and assists. Dom's also playing great defense. He's diving on the floor for loose balls, getting into the passing lanes and going to the boards. He's now more of a complete basketball player."
The transformation did not just happen. Since the end of his junior season, Trawick has worked hard on every aspect of his game - including his offense.
Despite the fact he was leading the team in scoring, Burgess wanted Trawick to become tougher to guard on the offensive end. Instead of settling for long jumpers, the BC coach urged his guard to become more diverse with his offensive game.
"I watched a lot of tape with Coach Burgess following my junior season. He wanted to show me there were easier ways to score," Trawick explained. "He wanted me to realize that if I started going to the hole, I would get some easy layups and I would get to the foul line more often."
Known as one of the top three-point threats in the ODAC, Trawick too often settled for tough shots from beyond the arc.
"I'm a jump shooter and I get good elevation when I shoot,." said Trawick. "If someone my size or smaller is guarding me, I'm going to get a good look at the basket."
Opposing coaches often matched up larger guards on the BC sharp-shooter, trying to take away his three-point game. Burgess urged his guard to become more aggressive and take the ball to the rim.
"Dom is an explosive player who is capable of putting the ball on the floor and getting to the rim," Burgess said. "It was a part of his game he needed to develop. If teams were going to take away the three, he needed to find different ways to score."
Offseason knee surgery actually helped Trawick work on this aspect of the game.
"I needed to improve my ball-handling because I knew that would help my game and make it easier to get to the rim," said Trawick. "When I had knee surgery, there were a lot of things with my game that I couldn't do for awhile. One thing I could work on was my ball-handling. I did a lot of those type drills while recovering from surgery."
Next, Trawick realized the need to get his teammates more involved in the offense.
"I worked a lot with AG (assistant coach Alvin Green, a former Division I point guard)," Trawick said. "He helped with seeing the court better and reading what the defense was trying to do."
Trawick is averaging 2.0 assists per game, but Burgess knows that number will increase if other members of the game step up at the offensive end.
"Dom wants to pass the basketball. He wants his teammates to score," said Burgess. "Our problem is that when Dom has the ball, too often, his teammates tend to stand around too much, watching the Dom Trawick show and waiting for him to make the shot. They're starting to realize that if they work, Dom will get them the basketball. Also, I think Dom has developed more trust in his teammates this season. He believes that if he finds the open man, they are going to make the play."
Going to the boards is also an area where Trawick has made a concentrated effort to improve.
"We don't have a lot of size," said Trawick. "If we're going to win the rebounding battle everyone on the floor has to go to the boards. In practice, I try to go inside and battle with Segar (Jordan) and our other inside guys just to get used to banging with the big guys."
"Dom worked on the simple things during the offseason and that's made him a better player," Burgess said. "We tell our guys, it's not the quantity of time you put in the gym, it's the quality of the time you put in the gym. Dom took that to heart and put in a lot of effort in improving his game."
Former BC head coach Bill Leatherman recruited Trawick and got the chance to see him play when the Eagles made the trip to Guilford.
"As is the case with most college players, they tend to mature as a juniors and seniors and I think that's what's happening with Dom," Leatherman said. "His first two years with me, you had a player who tended to be up-and-down with is performance. There were no doubts about his talent. Some nights his decision-making wasn't the best and some nights he just didn't have the focus he needed.
"Watching him play at Guilford and watching a lot of the games on the internet, I'm seeing a player who is much more consistent. I can tell he has worked hard on his game. Offensively, he's even using his left hand a little and that's something we tried to get him to his first two years. He's having an outstanding senior season playing in the toughest conference in the country."
In addition to all the tangible contributions - the points, the rebounds, the assists - Trawick has also become one of the team leaders.
"He's one of our captains, one of our leaders," said Burgess. "He may not be the most vocal guy, but he leads by example. And, he will speak up at times and his teammates respect what he has to say. As a coach, you love it when your best player is also your hardest worker."
While the individual accolades and milestones are nice, Trawick is longing for more team success.
The Eagles are 5-9 on the season, but have proven they can play with the best teams in the ODAC. BC has gone on the road and given nationally-ranked teams Virginia Wesleyan and Guilford all they could handle.
Now, the Eagles need to prove they can get over the hump and their next opportunity comes Saturday night against rival Eastern Mennonite, ranked No. 7 in the nation.
Trawick admits that Saturday's matchup is not just another game.
"We definitely don't want to lose to those guys and they definitely don't want to lose to us," said Trawick. "I guess you would say it's a friendly rivalry. Off the court, those are some good guys. But once we get on the court, there's nothing friendly about it. It's going to be intense.
"I know EMU is going to be ready. They're still remembering the fact that we got them three times last year. I know we'll be ready because it's a chance for us to knock off a Top 10 in our gym"
A win against the Royals could be the turning point in the Eagles' season.
"Our goals are still the same. We want to win an ODAC title," said Trawick. "We're in a conference with four of the top teams in the country, but we've shown we can play with them. It's all about confidence. We have to have that swagger that we can beat anyone. We're not that far away."