Mavs down Porkies

The North Country Mavericks ended 2016 with a solid 81-55 win against the Nashua Porcupines in Whitewater last Thursday night. The team is now in the middle of their Christmas break, not scheduled to see action until Friday, January 6 against the Scobey Spartans in Hinsdale. They will then see inter-county action against Dodson in Dodson on Saturday, January 7.

In their win against Nashua, the Mavericks were led by senior captain Cache Younkin, who scored a game-high 34 points, 19 of which came in the second half. Younkin shared his thoughts on going into winter break with a win.

"It's pretty good," Younkin said. "Nashua plays football with Glasgow like I do, so I know the kids pretty well, so I had a lot of fun. It was kind of like the Glasgow (basketball) game, I know them pretty well and it's always fun to beat someone you know. That gives you something to talk about and you're always on the upper side of that conversation when you win."

Younkin accredited the team's win to solid play all around.

"If we can hold teams to fifty points, we usually don't have trouble putting up fifty points," Younkin said. "A big key to our win tonight was our offense getting the ball moving. Everybody had open looks. Some were falling and others weren't. The people that had shots falling kept shooting and the people that didn't they got the ball to the ones having luck."

Junior captain Trace Simonson had 17 points in a pretty physical game that had its share of hard fouls.

"It was very physical," Simonson said. "I know a bunch of us lift weights so that helps a lot. Then you just have to be mentally tough when the refs aren't calling stuff underneath or when you're getting pushed around by other kids. You just can't let it get to you."

Menge also shared his thoughts on why they were able to come out on top.

"The key to the win was getting our stuff together in the second half," senior captain Christian Menge said. "The first half, we let them get open shots. I was hacking. I wasn't sliding when they were setting screens. We had to call out for screens more and let our guards know what was happening."

Menge, the team's third captain had a strong game, despite early foul trouble. Menge has proven to be a solid starting post that can also stretch defenses with solid shooting from long range. Menge is pleased with how the team has been playing but he has his priorities set for his last season.

"Our team goal is to play Saturday night and win at divisionals," Menge said. "A personal goal of mine is to become a better post player, scoot up to the basketball more and be more confident."

Though the team is on break after a pretty solid start, the team believes that they can get better before the post-season.

"I hope we can get better and more practices and games go and that we keep improving because I know we are not as good as we can be right now," Simonson said.