Coyotes defeat Mavs, fall to Outlaws

The Dodson Coyotes and North Country Mavericks boys basketball clashed for their second meeting of the season, this time at the Coyote Den in Dodson on Saturday, February 8.

"It was a physical game," Dodson Head Coach Frank Benson said. "Most of these guys play football with or against each other and they are used to pushing each other."

Both teams lost their games prior to meeting each other with Dodson losing to Roy-Winifred 52-47 in Roy on Thursday, February 6, and North Country losing 60-29 to Scobey in Hinsdale on Friday, February 7.

In Saturday's game in Dodson, Corbin LoneBear led all scorers with 16 points. Shaun Ball had 14 points, Zerek Jones had 10, Jeramiah Benson had six points, Julian Benson had five points, Dwight Werk had three points, and Alex Werk had three points.

Coach Benson shouted out D. Werk's efforts in the paint.

"How about Dwight," Coach Benson said. "He had four offensive rebounds when he went in. He must've had about seven or eight rebounds and only two fouls."

North Country was led by Dustin Ostrom who had 14 points. Beau Simonson had 10 points, Loden Idler had eight points, Jon Rey Taylor had three points and Jesse Lee had one point.

Dodson's offense outscored North Country's 13-6 in the first quarter. The Coyotes had jumped out to a 7-0 lead to start the game.

"Our defense has gotten better," Coach Benson said. "We are boxing out better, but we have got to keep two hands on the ball."

The teams traded buckets in the second quarter, with both teams scoring 11. The halftime score was 24-17 in favor of the Coyotes. Dodson's offense came alive in the third as the team capitalized on turnovers scoring a total of 17 points while holding North Country to five.

North Country had their highest output in the fourth quarter scoring 14 points, but Dodson added 16 to their tally, in a physical game.

Dodson has swept the Mavericks, winning both games this season. In Dodson's 52-47 loss to Roy-Winifred, the Coyotes were led by Ju. Benson who had 12 points. Ball had 11 points. Jones had 10.

"They had more fun tonight," Coach Benson said. "It seemed like they were kind of just going through the motions the last few games."

The Coyotes are scheduled to play the Frazer Bearcubs on Friday, February 14, in Dodson. The night will serve as the school's Senior Night. The game is set to begin at the girls varsity (which starts at 6 p.m.). The Coyotes are scheduled to play their last regular season game of the year against the Lustre Christian Lions on Saturday, February 15, at 7:30 p.m.

Coach Benson knows that the teams can help each other in this upcoming week, the last of the regular season.

"If North Country can pull off a win against Lustre Friday, we don't have to worry about Saturday, it wouldn't even matter," Coach Benson said. "It would only matter if we could help North Country get third on Saturday by beating Lustre."

The Mavericks are also scheduled to play Frazer and Lustre, but the team will face Lustre on Friday, February 14, at 7:30 p.m. and then Frazer on Saturday, February 15, at around 7 p.m.