Season Ends for Mavericks, Coyotes

The Dodson Coyotes and North Country Maverick basketball teams met in the opening round of the 3C District tournament in Glasgow and eventually the season ended for both squads.

Dodson defeated the Mavericks 39-31 on Wednesday, February 15, and went on to go 2-2 at the tournament. The Coyotes lost 62-32 to the eventual champion Lustre Christian Lions on Thursday, February 16, then defeated the Frazer Bearcubs 80-38 on Friday, February 17. The Coyotes fell 67-54 to the Nashua Porcupines in the third place game, which would've sent Dodson to the Eastern C Divisional.

The Mavericks lost their next game 70-47 to the Nashua Porcupines on Friday.

In Dodson's win over North Country, Mason Lonebear led the charge with 18 points, seven rebounds, and two steals. Senior Mikey Jaynes had 11 points. Junior Stiffarm had five points and three rebounds. Sebastian Best had three points and seven rebounds.

Lonebear was asked what the key to their win was.

"Just being really aggressive, taking the ball to them and letting them foul out," LoneBear said. ":et them overplay and gett fouls called on them."

North Country was led by Blaine Downing who had a 15 point, 13 rebound double-double. Coy Bowman had seven points. Kenana LaBrie had three points. Austin Hanley, Kade Strommen, and Laytin Erickson each scored two points.

Dodson won two of the three meetings with North Country and one key was slowing down North Country's aggressiveness on offense.

"We have a defense built for post players," Jaynes said. "Our defense keys on the post and that helps us out a lot. When they get it to the post we are able to get a double-team on them."

Early on, Dodson's offense went stale, but Jaynes and LoneBear were able to change that.

"Drive and dish," Jaynes said. "Move the ball. We couldn't just stand there and pass around the three point line. We had to start driving the ball and if they collapse, dish the ball to the guy in the paint and get a foul or two points."

Mavericks

In their loss to Nashua, the Mavericks were led by Bowman who had 26 points, five rebounds, and two steals. Downing had a 15 point, 12 rebound double-double and three steals. LaBrie had four points and Strommen had two points.

The Mavericks led 16-15 after the first quarter, but were outscored 21-13 in the second quarter, 16-5 in the third quarter, and 18-13 in the fourth quarter.

Dodson was 13-of-26 from the free throw line, while North Country was 3-of-8. Dodson also outrebounded the Mavericks 36-32.

Coyotes

In Dodson's loss to Lustre, Stiffarm led the Coyotes with 12 points, four rebounds, and three steals. Lonebear had nine points, five rebounds, two assists, and two steals. Jaynes had seven points, four rebounds, and two assists.

Dodson was outscored 14-3 in the first quarter, 21-8 in the second quarter, and 17-6 in the third quarter. The Coyotes held Lustre to 10 points in the fourth period and scored 15 points.

In the Coyote's win over Frazer, Jaynes led the charge with 33 points, six rebounds, six assists, and six steals.

Best had a 15 point, 16 rebound double-double and two steals. Stiffarm had a 14 point, 13 rebound double-double and two steals.

Lonebear had six points, four rebounds and two steals. Cliff had five points and Snow had three points.

Dodson outscored Frazer 23-15 in the first quarter, 24-10 in the second quarter, 20-3 in the third quarter, and 13-10 in the fourth quarter. The Coyotes led by as much as 42 points in the fourth quarter.

The Coyotes forced 28 turnovers and scored 18 points off of turnovers.

"It's always hard for us to match the intensity that Frazer brings to us, although we are the better team it seems the boys find it hard to find the motivation to play a perfect structured game," Coach KillEagle said. "We started out very slow against a hungry Bearcubs team. Came away with the win, but we did not control the game like I know we could have but I still give props to the boys for pulling off the victory."

In Dodson's loss to Nashua, Jaynes led the Coyotes with 23 points and two steals. Chaske Cliff had eight points, Lance Snow had eight points, Stiffarm had four points, four rebounds, and four steals. Sebastian Best had four points and 10 rebounds. Lonebear had two points and four rebounds.

Nashua outscored Dodson 36-23 in the first half and 18-13 in the third quarter. Dodson finished strong by scoring 18 points to Nashua's 13 in the fourth, but the team could not catch up.

"Going into the game with Nashua I knew they were going to bring it and I saw how well they shot the previous game they played against NC," Coach KillEagle said. "So in pregame talk we discussed the plan to shut down beyond the arc, but also stay with the game plan of closing that paint to their bigs. Nashua is a very well rounded team and can hit you from many angles. Unfortunately we just didn't have it, but they boys worked very hard till the very end. We weren't hitting many shots we normally hit and it felt like the Nashua guards couldn't miss. That's how tournament play goes sometimes."