The Rustlers were riding high from an upset win over the No. 21 nationally-ranked NJCAA Gillette College on Sophomore night. With their regular season finale win, CWC had jumped Laramie County Community College to secure the five seed in Region 9, and were set to take on number four seeded Northwest College in Powell on Saturday afternoon. A win would result in Central Wyoming making it into the Region 9 men's basketball tournament in Gillette the next week. They had already split regular season matchups between the Trappers, and were facing an uphill battle having to play on NWC's home court. 

The home crowd had their team's back in this pivotal play-in game, and NWC started out the first half on fire. The Rustlers were left reeling after being put behind 11 points, which then got extended to 13 by halftime. 1-of-9 from three point range and an 18-7 rebound deficit hurt Central Wyoming, which made improvements in the second half and actually outscored NWC 34-30. They were even aided by poor free throw shooting on the Trappers' part, who converted just over half (8) of the 14 free throws they attempted in the second half. Isaac Patik had a game high 17 points, But the hole that was dug for the Rustlers was too deep to crawl out of, and they ended their season with a 62-53 loss.

CWC men's basketball finished the year 9-21 overall and 4-8 in conference play.