Coyotes challenge perfect teams

The Dodson Coyotes came close to defeating two undefeated teams last weekend as they hosted the Melstone Broncs and Scobey Spartans last weekend in Dodson.

The Coyotes fell 45-43 to Melstone, thanks to a late two-point field goal from Shayden Cooke on Thursday, January 23. The Coyotes would go on to lose 49-48 to Scobey in Dodson on Saturday, January 25.

The Coyotes are scheduled to host the Turner Tornadoes on Friday, January 31, in Dodson. The last time these two teams faced off, Dodson defeated Turner 70-37 on Friday, January 3, in Turner.

The Coyotes will then head to Nashua, to take on the Porcupines, who they defeated 70-32 on Saturday, January 4, in the Coyote Den.

In Dodson's 45-43 loss to Melstone, Dodson was led by Shaun Ball and Jeramiah Benson who scored 12 points apiece. Kadin Racine had five points, Zerek Jones also had five points, including an and-one play to put Dodson up in the fourth quarter after trailing for most of the game.

"I feel like we did our best and this was our best game this season," Jones told the PCN after the game. "If we keep playing like this, I think that we could beat almost all of the teams in our district."

Ball, a senior captain also felt that the game was the team's best this season, thus far.

"It was our best ball all year, so far," Ball said. "We were all in sync. We all kind of stepped it up pretty high tonight."

Ball gave a shout out to his coyote teammates Jeramiah and Juliun Benson as teammates who stepped up that night.

Despite starters Corbin LoneBear and Jones being sent to the bench with foul trouble, Dodson's reserves held strong in the first period, only allowing one field goal, and even went up 12-7 in the middle of the first quarter. Melstone's Brock Grebe would knock down a trey

After losing the lead early in the second quarter, Dodson stayed close to Melstone. Not falling more than three possessions behind the Broncs throughout the entirety of the game. The score at the half was 25-22 Melstone. Both teams scored 14 points in the third quarter. The score was 39-36 at the beginning of the fourth quarter.

Dodson had taken a 42-40 lead with 2:10 left in the fourth thanks to their lone field goal coming from a Jones layup in which he would draw a foul call. Jones made the free throw.

"Free throws are pretty big in games like this," Jones said.

Jones and other Coyotes were aggressive in the paint, even in times when the crowd groaned because whistles weren't blown often under the bucket. Still, Jones remained aggressive picking up offensive rebounds and fighting for buckets underneath. Jones was asked why he kept fighting hard in the paint.

"Just knowing that this was a big game and that I wanted to win and it would've brought our hopes up," Jones said.

The Coyotes found themselves up 43-42 with less than a minute remaining, but eventually, Melstone's Shayden Cooke would give the Broncs a 44-43 lead with a jump shot in the post. Melstone's Ty Kombol made it to the line with less than three seconds remaining. Kombol would make his first attempt giving Melstone a 45-43 lead and then miss his second attempt.

A timeout was called by Dodson on the rebound, leaving less than two seconds on the clock. Eventually, J. Benson got a shot off from backcourt that would hit the backboard and resulted in a close miss.

In Dodson's loss to Scobey, the Coyotes were led by Ball who scored 16 points. Jones had 13 points and LoneBear had 12.