Coyotes go 2-2, fall at 3C tourney

The season is over for the Dodson Coyotes, after posting an 11-11 season, and making the 3C district semi-finals last weekend in Glasgow.

“They didn’t go down without a fight,” Dodson Head Coach Frank Benson said.

The Coyotes opened the 3C Tournament with a close win over Lustre in the opening round last Wednesday. The score was 50-48.

The team was led by junior Tyrese Messerly, who scored 26 points, and hit a game high seven treys, including a game-winner with 20 seconds left in the game.

“Tyrese came to play and he came ready for tournament time,” Coach Benson said. “I don’t think he had a twenty point game all year. We knew he had it (in him), we were just waiting for it.

Corbin LoneBear scored ten points, Shaun Ball scored five, Caleb Ditmar scored four points, David Jaynes scored three points and Jeremiah Benson had two points.

Dodson trailed 14-10 after the first quarter, but things turned around as Dodson’s defense was able to limit Lustre to six points on three field goals in the second quarter; Dodson would score 15 during the same period, giving the Coyotes a 25-20 lead before halftime. Dodson would go on to score 10 points in the third period, while Lustre would add 13 to their tally. The score after three quarters were 35-33. Both teams would score 15 points in the fourth quarter.

“We played better defense that game,” Coach Benson said. “We boxed out and rebounded. We didn’t give them as many offensive rebounds as we did in Lustre before.”

With 1:11 left in regulation and down by four, Messerly came up with a pair of steals that he converted to points on the other end in consecutive possessions, giving Dodson a one point lead. After the Bearcubs scored on a two-point bucket, Messerly responded with a trey on the other end, winning the game for Dodson.

The Coyotes would hit a large roadblock as they fell 80-20 to the Scobey Spartans in the semi-finals game last Thursday evening. Ball led Dodson with 14 points.

Dodson kept pace with Scobey in the first period scoring 11 points, while giving up 15. The Spartans would turn things up, only allowing the Coyotes to score seven more points in the half and only two points in the second half. Scobey would score 25 points in the second quarter, 23 points in the third quarter, and 16 points in the fourth quarter.

The Coyotes would win their consolation semi-final game 72-67 in the early afternoon of Friday, February 16.

Messerly would lead Dodson with 21 points, Jaynes would score 14 points, Ball would score 13 points and LoneBear scored 13 points.

Dodson controlled the game throughout, jumping ahead 20-11 after the first quarter and 38-22 at halftime.

Nashua closed the gap with a 35-23 run in the fourth, as they knocked down five treys and got to the line for 19 free throw attempts.

Dodson faced Frazer in the consolation finals later that day and lost 54-43.

“We were close,” Coach Benson said. “We were down four with a little over two minutes left in the game. They were making their free throws, but we weren’t making our shots towards the end.”

Dodson was led by Ball, who had 25 points. Jaynes had six points and Messerly had five points.

The Coyotes would stay close to Frazer in the first quarter, only falling behind 14-13 by the end of the period, but Frazer would outscore Dodson 14-7 in the second quarter, setting the tone for the remainder of the game.

Coach Benson was encouraged by what he saw from his team this season, as the team posted nine more wins than last year.

“We went from two wins to eleven wins,” Coach Benson said. “It went pretty well and we are still young, to be able to go 11-11. We beat some teams that are moving on to divisionals during the regular season.”