Mavericks Basketball 2017-18

The North Country Mavericks were one win away from punching their ticket to the 2017 State C Tournament after losing to Fairview in the consolation round of the Eastern C Divisional in Wolf Point.

The team will look slightly different having graduated three athletes from last year's team. Those graduates were Cache Younkin, Christian Menge and Logan McColly.

Despite losing those seniors, the Mavericks have retained and gained a lot of talents with their largest group since the co-op started two seasons ago. The team has 18 athletes this season.

Senior Trace Simonson was an All-State selection in his junior season.

"We can have him bring the ball up if we need to and we can have him shoot outside but he is pretty strong so we kind of want to use him a little more inside than we did last year," Coach Barry Malone said.

Simonson has averaged double-digit points on offense in the team's first two games last weekend but foul trouble was an issue.

"I can't get him in foul trouble," Coach Malone said. "He did foul out on Saturday night but he played a little more protective of himself on Friday."

Simonson was eight for nine from the charity stripe in the team's opening win over Plentywood.

The team's other captain was Chris DePuydt who also started each game for the team last season. DePuydt made the Honorable Mention list for All-Conference last season.

"He is being a bit more aggressive on the defensive end and in the past he wasn't a physical kid because of his size but he has got a little bit of height and he is not afraid to get underneath and guard the biggest of kids and bang around with the big boys," Coach Malone said.

John McColly made the All-Defensive list last season, but he won't be with the team in the first few games due to injury.

"He hasn't been given the clearance to practice yet," Coach Malone said. "He's our defensive stopper. He is a ball-handler who is very quick and aggressive. His shot is not that bad and he can knock down big shots when we need them."

Coach Malone went on to praise his hustle mentioning that McColly brings a lot of speed to the Mavericks.

Post Austin Leatherberry saw plenty of time with the junior varsity team last season and started in the fifth position last weekend.

"He's a big body who if we can find the right matchup is going to matchup defensively on kids trying to get down low," Coach Malone said.

Sophomore TY Murphy is another first-year starter who played on both the JV team and varsity last season.

"He brings some more speed to the team," Coach Malone said. "We will expect him to guard the guards up front and anytime we want to apply pressure, he will be up front with Chris and Trace."

He also mentioned freshman Loden Idler who put up nine points against Plentywood as another player that will be effective in the press.

The team has set a goal to return to where they were last season, with hopes of punching their first ticket as a co-op to the State C Tournament in Butte in March.

"I think it's just to get back to the opportunity that we gave ourselves last year," Coach Malone said. "We want to get ourselves into that Saturday night in divisionals."

He admitted it won't be easy.

"It's going to be a little tougher with different personnel out there on the floor and getting a group of kids together working with kids that they aren't used to working with," Coach Malone said. "Plus other teams are getting tougher. Our district is going to be a lot more challenging than it has been. All of the teams are going to be a lot more evenly matched."