C Boys: Mavs Beat Scobey for First Time!

The North Country Mavericks and Dodson Coyotes Basketball teams had two games a piece last weekend as the 2022-23 regular season nears it's end.

The Mavericks fell 67-31 to the Glasgow Scotties in Glasgow on Thursday, February 2, but defeated the Scobey Spartans Friday, February 3, in Whitewater for the first time in the co-op's history (started in 2015).

The Coyotes squared off against the Roy-Winifred Outlaws on Friday in Dodson and fell 64-46 and then the Class B Poplar Indians 87-45 last Saturday, February 4.

Mavericks

In North Country's win over Scobey, Blaine Downing led the charge with 22 points. Coy Bowman had nine points, Laytin Erickson had nine points, Kade Strommen had seven points, and Walker Albus had one point.

"We wanted that win for the season and for this co-op and the guys went and got it," North Country Head Coach Haakon Fredrickson said.

Scobey outscored the Mavericks 22-17 in the first half and the Mavericks were down by as much as seven (29-22) in the third period. After a timeout at 5:50, North Country was able to close the gap thanks to a mid-range jump shot by Downing. Followed by another by Strommen. After trading a couple of buckets, Downing drew a shooting foul and converted both free throws. The score was 31-30 with 2:30 left in the third.

The Mavericks took the lead in the third after Bowman hit a wide-open mid-range jumper thanks to a press breaker. The Mavericks led 34-33 at the end of the third quarter.

The Mavs and Spartans traded points and the lead a few times in the opening minutes of the fourth quarter. The score was tied 40-all with 3:30 seconds remaining. Downing drew a shooting foul and made one of two attempts, putting the Mavs up 41-40 with 3:05 remaining. Scobey's John Cornly gave Scobey a 43-41 lead after converting an and-one (two-point field goal with one free throw) opportunity.

The teams continued to trade buckets. The score was tied 45-all with less than two minutes remaining. After a Mavericks outlet pass was intercepted by Cornly, Strommen stole the ball from Cornly and was awarded a 1-and-1 but the shot missed.

Scobey burned a pair of timeouts within five seconds thanks to a well executed trap by Brown and Downing on an inbound pass. With 1:17 remaining and 25 on the shot clock, it was Scobey's ball, but the Spartans could not score on the possession. The Mavs would also fail to score, giving Scobey the ball back with 55 seconds left. A missed trey ended up in the hands of Bowman.

With just over 20 seconds remaining, Downing missed a layup but fought for the rebound and forced a jumpball, the possession arrow pointed in the Mavericks favor with 19.2 seconds remaining and ten on the Maverick shot clock. Bowman found Downing on the inbound pass who found Strommen for a game-winning layup. Strommen drew a foul on the layup and converted the free throw. Scobey had one more possession with 12.5 remaining, but one missed trey followed by a second-chance three pointer fell short for Scobey. Final score 48-45.

Coyotes

In Dodson's loss to Roy-Winifred, Mikey Jaynes led the Coyotes with 22 points. Junior Stiffarm had 10 points, Chaske Cliff had six points, Titus Webb had four points, Sebastian Best had two points and Mason LoneBear had two points.

Stiffarm led the Coyotes in their loss to Poplar with 14 points. Jaynes had 13 points, Best had 11 points, and LoneBear had seven points.