Mavericks fall in Wolf Point

The season ended for the North Country Mavericks in the Consolation finals as the Mavs fell to the Fairview Warriors in the Eastern C Divisional Consolation Finals last Saturday.

The Mavericks would go 2-2 last weekend in Wolf Point as they were able to reach the semi-finals after defeating the Fairview Warriors but fell to the eventual Eastern C Scobey Spartans. The Mavs would go on to pick up a win against Savage in the consolation semi-finals but the team would ultimately fall to Fairview in the consolation finals.

In the opening round, the Mavericks shocked Fairview 55-38 behind a 20 point effort by Trace Simonson. Cache Younkin had 11 and Logan McColly scored 10.

The Mavericks overpowered the Warriors in the first half, outscoring Fairview 33-24. They would also outscore the Warriors 22-14 in the second half.

“I thought it was one of the best matchups we could get player per player,” Mavericks Head Coach Barry Malone said. “We didn’t really have any pre-tournament jitters. We got after it. We kept some of their best players from getting any advantages from the get-go.”

He praised Simonson for defending Fairview’s biggest threat, Pat Hardy. Simonson held Hardy to three points in three quarters.

In the Mavericks’ 71-35 semi-final loss to Scobey, North Country would allow the Spartans to start the game on a 15-0 run. Scobey would go on a 15-1 run in the second quarter.

“They got out on us right away,” Coach Malone said.

The team tried to replicate the 2-3 zone that Froid-Lake had used to slow Scobey down, but it didn’t slow the Spartans down.

“They dropped nine points on us in the first minute,” Coach Malone said. “We knew that we couldn’t zone them and they shot a lot better in their game against us than they did against Froid-Lake.”

The Mavs were led by Younkin, who had eight points. Christian Menge, Chris DePuydt and Ty Murphy each scored seven points.

“Scobey played really good basketball and we just couldn’t keep up,” Coach Malone said.

The Mavericks defense helped the Mavericks overcome a slow start against Savage on Saturday morning. The Mavericks won 59-57.

Simonson led the team with 25 points and Younkin had 22 points. John McColly had eight points and Menge had four.

North Country would be outscored 15-12 in the first period and 14-11 in the second, making the halftime score 29-23 in favor of Savage. North Country would close the gap in the third by outscoring Savage 11-6 in the third. They would ultimately take over the lead in the fourth quarter, outscoring their opponent 25-22 in the fourth and winning the game by one possession.

In the Mavericks final game of the season, the Fairview Warriors were able to avenge their first round loss and earn the rights to a challenge game against Frazer, who lost the championship to Scobey.

The Warriors defeated the Mavericks 57-46. Younkin led all scorers with 19 points and Trace Simonson had 13 points. Menge had seven points.

The Mavericks started the season with the goal of playing Saturday night in the District Tournament and ended the season on a Saturday night in the Divisional Tournament, with their season ending two games shy of reaching the State C Tournament.

“They played hard when it started to count,” Coach Malone said. “We came up short.”

According to Malone, the team will look to participate in camps and tournaments in the off-season.

The team will feature a different look next year after losing three seniors, Younkin, L. McColly and Menge to graduation.