Mavs Bring Back Plenty of Talent

The North Country Mavericks basketball team welcomes a new head coach to the team in their 2022-23 campaign.

North Country will be led by Hinsdale's Haakon Fredrickson, who is also serving as Hinsdale High School's Athletic Director.

Coach Fredrickson is a 2015 graduate of Ennis High School. He brings some coaching experience to the team, although in different sports. He was a graduate assistant in track and field for his alma-mater Dickinson State University and was an assistant football coach for Cascade High School in 2016. He graduated from DSU in 2020 with a Bachelor's of Science in Exercise Science and a Minor in History. He also worked to earn his Masters of Arts in Teaching at DSU. This year is his first as a teacher at Hinsdale High School.

The Mavericks welcome back a few starters from last year's team that made it to the 2022 Eastern C Divisional Tournament in Sidney. The Mavericks lost in the opening round to Fairview, and then in the first round of the consolation bracket to Scobey.

"We have a young, strong core of players," Coach Fredrickson said. "Our starters include a freshman; Austin Hanley, three sophomores; Coy Bowman, Kade Strommen, and Blaine Downing, and one Junior; Andrew Boucher. Obviously these players are young, but not inexperienced."

Downing and Bowman have been leading the charge early so far this season. Coach Fredrickson said that Downing was an extraordinary athlete.

"Blaine has the ability to compete with any player in our district on offense and defense," Coach Fredrickson said. "He is really the glue of our defense and draws most of the attention of any defense offensively."

So far in the season, Bowman has shown the ability to knock down three pointers.

"Coy draws attention from defenses immediately," Coach Fredrickson said. "He is a great perimeter shooter and sneakily hides from defenders. His presence on defense helps us in man or zone. He has quick hands and gets a few steals a game. Coy tends to manage the game in a very mature fashion. His peers listen and trust his judgment."

Strommen's competitive nature has been quickly seen by Coach Fredrickson.

"Kade has the proverbial "on-off" switch," Coach Fredrickson said. "He enters the field, court, or competition with every intention of overcoming adversity. The motor that Kade had presented throughout this season has been shocking. Defensively he forces teams to look away from him."

Coach Fredrickson also said that on offense, Strommen is smart. And even though he tends to pass to teammates, he is a threat to score when near the rim.

Junior Andrew Boucher has shown consistency offensively and defensively in the post.

"Throughout his basketball career he has gained a wealth of knowledge about the game and different opponents within the district and the state," Coach Fredrickson said. "He is rarely out of place on offense and defense, and is consistent for our young team."

Austin Hanley, a freshman, has been working hard on his game, according to Coach Fredrickson.

"He is an athletic and long young man standing at 6 feet tall," Coach Fredrickson said. "Austin spends hours in the gym shooting and has developed a nice jump shot. He is comfortable in our zone defense and defends the perimeter well."

Coach Fredrickson talked about a few of his reserves.

"Like our young starters, we have an even younger bench," Coach Fredrickson said. "First is our 8th grader Laytin Erickson. Laytin came off a strong junior high season and jumped right into practice with the high school."

The first year coach believes that Erickson is consistent and has a very high basketball IQ.

Jaydeen Henshaw will be a backup post and could be used in a small ball situation.

"Jaydeen helps us with rebounds and guarding posts," He is shorter but plays very large. His biggest attribute is his ability to find the ball after shots."

He rounded out his rotation by talking about Linden Holt and Korbyn Skubinna.

"Linden Holt is still developing his basketball skills and knowledge and is coming along nicely," Coach Fredrickson said. "Korbyn Skubinna is still to be determined. I simply have not had enough time to assess his role but I will say he hustles everywhere on the floor and is quite aggressive on defense. He will certainly help this team down the road."

Though the team got off to a great start in their first game of the season, they have struggled against Fort Benton, Terry, and Denton-Geyser-Stanford-Geraldine.

"The game this past Friday against Fort Benton was honestly a positive even though the score might not have shown," Coach Fredrikson said. "The boys played a competitive four quarters and honestly kept the game within reach until mid fourth quarter."

They fell 65-40 to the Longhorns last Friday and then 68-30 to the Denton-Geyser-Stanford-Geraldine Bearcats last Saturday.

In the loss to Fort Benton, Downing led the offense, scoring 16 points. Bowman was second with nine points, and Strommen had eight points.

In the team's loss to DGSG, Downing had 20 points, Bowman had five, Boucher and Strommen each had two points.