Mavs punch first ticket to Divisionals

The North Country Mavericks co-op team was able to punch their first Eastern Divisional ticket last Saturday night by taking the third seed in the 2017 3C District Tournament in Glasgow.

The team will make their Eastern C Divisional debut against the Fairview Warriors at 1:30 p.m. in Wolf Point at Wolf Point High School. Fairview is the second seed from the 2C district.

"Historically, they have always been a strong basketball program over there," Mavericks Head Coach Barry Malone said. "The way they have been playing is slow and deliberate. They are physical and they play pretty big underneath."

The team's focus will be on combo-player Pat Hardy.

"He shoots well, he will play outside and then inside," Coach Malone said. "They also have some quick ball-handlers that shoot very well."

Depending on how the game goes, the Mavs will either see Scobey or Froid-Lake in the next round. The Eastern C will only take two teams to State, which could complicate things for North Country if they cannot win outright.

In the 3C consolation finals game last Saturday night, North Country was able to ride their first half momentum to a 54-48 victory over Lustre to punch their ticket to the Divisional round.

North Country was led by captains Cache Younkin and Trace Simonson, who each had 20 points.

The team jumped out to a 17-10 lead by the conclusion of the first quarter, thanks in part to a 10 point effort by Younkin. The Mavs would also outscore Lustre 16-8 in the second quarter, putting them up 33-18 at halftime.

"We were well in control during the first half but we let Lustre back in it," Coach Malone said. "We got in foul trouble and let it get under our skin. They took it at us and made a run at us but we were able to seal it at the free throw line."

Simonson went 5-of-6 from the charity stripe in the fourth quarter and also knocked down a couple of two point shots, scoring a total of nine of North Country's 14 fourth quarter points.

In North Country's first round 71-41 win over Dodson, the Mavs were led by Simonson, who scored 29 points, had eight rebounds and was 7-of-9 from the charity stripe. Younkin added 17 points, four assists, four rebounds and three steals.

"That game went fairly well for us," Coach Malone said. "We kind of took charge right at the get-go and did the job that we needed."

The Mavs jumped out to a 2-8 lead in the first, then went on to outscore Dodson 16-9 in the second and 22-11 in the third quarter. Both teams scored 13 points in the fourth quarter.

The Mavs would go on to the semi-final round on Friday afternoon, where they would lose a close game to Frazer. The score was 70-69. Simonson had a game leading 30 points and Younkin added 27 points, while also knocking down five treys.

"Against Frazer, we knew it was going to be a dog-fight because they beat us fairly handily the first time of the season and we knocked them off the last game of the year," Coach Malone said. "We were fairly confident and we knew we could play with them."

The team found themselves down 40-35 at halftime but was then outscored 16-10 in the third. The score going into the fourth quarter was 56-45.

The Mavs would put up 24 points in the fourth quarter, sinking their last shot in the final seconds but Frazer was able to score 14 points, enough to stave off the surging Mavericks.

"We didn't rebound well on the defensive side and they got a lot of boards on us," Coach Malone said. "We got complacent in the third quarter and we didn't come out very strong."

Frazer maintained a 15 point lead, but the Mavs fought back.

"Our kids they weren't going to give up," Coach Malone said. "They got after it and defended well in the fourth quarter but time wasn't on our side."

The team then found themselves having to face the Nashua-Opheim Rivals on Friday night, only a few hours after the loss to Frazer.

The Mavericks were able to defeat the Rivals 61-29 despite the short rest. The team was led by Younkin who had 21 points. Simonson had 10, Logan McColly scored eight, John McColly and Christ DePuydt had seven points each.