GRAND FORKS — On Thursday night, Sandy Laxdal will walk into the Cavalier gym — as he’s done hundreds of times.
This time, though, Laxdal will sit on the visitor’s bench alongside his North Border boys basketball team.
After nearly two decades at Cavalier, in numerous coaching positions and as athletic director, Laxdal took over as the Eagles’ head basketball coach.
“Really excited to get this opportunity to coach at North Border,” said Laxdal, who also teaches science at the high school. “Just young, hard-working kids to work with and really respectful kids that just want to learn more basketball. They really have a passion to play the game of basketball.”
That passion is showing early this season, as North Border is off to a 5-0 start. The Eagles are ranked No. 3 in Class B.
“They’re a pretty talented group,” Laxdal said. “Pretty high scoring offense, and a lot of kids can score for us. I thought they had a really good baseline there to start with. It’s a team approach. You have to play good team defense and create some turnovers and get some stops and convert that into points. Been a really great start for us and really excited to see what we have going forward here.”
North Border is averaging 62.2 points per game and allowing just 41.2 points per game to start the year. Park River/Fordville-Lankin’s 54 points against the Eagles is the highest allowed total for North Border this season.
The Eagles have three players averaging double-digit points per game. Senior Grant Cosley, who was named to the All-District and All-Region teams last season, is averaging 13.8 points per game.
Junior Brody Berg leads North Border at 14 points per game, and sophomore Kaden Moore — who set North Border’s school record with 79 made 3-pointers in a standout freshman season — is averaging 13.6 points per game.
“It’s a pretty exciting year,” Laxdal said. “Lots of expectations, so it’ll be good to get on a little roll here again and play our best basketball in February and March.”
North Border’s district game at Cavalier will be a good test for the Eagles as the season ramps up.
“I’m looking forward to it,” said Laxdal, who was an assistant boys basketball coach at Cavalier until 2010. “I know the kids pretty well. It’s kind of a friendly rivalry. The kids know each other pretty well, and there will be, I’m sure, some back-and-forth banter. It should be a really good game. It always is every year. You can really throw the records out on that one, and it’s always a competitive game. Both teams bring their best that night. Just hope that we can make enough shots that we put them in some uncomfortable positions.”
