North County Mavericks Basketball

The North Country Mavericks are two games into their 2015 campaign and have already proven that they can win under the new cooperative agreement. The agreement brings together Hinsdale, who was 3C's top team who eventually lost out in the Eastern C Divisional and Saco-Whitewater who also lost in the Eastern C tournament in Wolf Point last season.

The team squared off against the Wibaux Longhorns and Jordan Mustangs at the 2015 Glasgow Showcase last weekend and won both games. The more impressive of the two wins was against Jordan when the team overcame a nine point disadvantage in the fourth quarter by outscoring Jordan 15-to-6 and forcing overtime. In the overtime period, the team held Jordan to two points, while scoring 16. The Mavs won that game 65-51.

The team will be led by Head Coach Mitch Capdeville, who has led Hinsdale to consecutive 3C titles in recent years. According to Coach Capdeville the team had been coming together and that has been apparent in the team's practices.

"Practices seem to be going pretty good," Coach Capdeville said. "They're pretty intense practices. We have eight or nine kids that on any given night could probably start."

He mentioned a few of those players that have stuck out in the team's practice sessions.

The first one listed was junior Trace Simonson, a forward, who stood out for the Panthers last season. Simonson averaged 18.5 points over the weekend in two games and had 26 points in the win against Jordan.

"He's really athletic and a strong kid who shoots the ball well," Coach Capdeville said.

The team doesn't have a true post player this season, with the tallest player with experience being listed at 6'1"; luckily the team boasts a few solid perimeter players.

"We have a lot of shooters on this team," Coach Capdeville said.

Hinsdale went 20-3 last season, but they haven't retained any of their starters due to the fact all five of them graduated. The team's sixth man from last season, junior Cache Younkin has already made an impact.

"He'll be a big asset for us," Capdeville said. "He's so quick and he'll be a key part of our penetration offense. He handles the ball well and we'll probably run most of our screen and rolls with him penetrating to the basket."

Younkin scored 17 points in both games last weekend and was a key voice for the team as the team's point guard.

The team will also look to senior two-guard Layne Engel to start. Engel scored 11 points against Wibaux and seven against Jordan.

"Layne is an exceptional shooter," Coach Capdeville said. "He can really shoot the lights out of it."

The closest player to being the team's post may be senior Channing Mavencamp, who saw plenty of time in the paint last season for the Panthers.

"He's a strong kid," Coach Capdeville said.

The type of offense will be similar to the offense the Raiders have run in recent years, which has been a strong perimeter based offense.

"I'll add a dribble drive offense and we will look to shoot the ball from the outside quite a bit," Coach Capdeville said. "You'll see four out, one in and we'll run a lot of screen and rolls off of penetration."

The defense will be man-based but eventually the team may mess with different zone coverages as the season goes on.

"I always feel that before you can play any kind of zone, you need to know how to play man defense," Coach Capdeville said. "We'll run man mostly. Then we'll run a 2-3 zone defense on most out of bounds plays and we will do a 1-2-2 later on in the year, once we get things rolling."

The team is looking forward to playing Scobey and Frazer, who will be the team's largest threats to the 3C crown this season. Frazer was also the team that sent Hinsdale home last season at the 2015 Eastern C Divisional tournament last year.