Watford to host District 15 Boys Tournament
By Neal A. Shipman
Farmer Editor
Watford City split in boys varsity basketball action this past week as the Wolves wrapped up their regular season play. The Wolves edged Parshall, 79-74, on Tuesday before falling to Beulah, 80-40, and to Dickinson Trinity, 77-48.
The Wolves, who are 9-11 on the season, will now advance to the District 15 Tournament, which gets underway on Thursday, Feb. 9 at the Watford City High School Gym. Watford City, the No. 3-seeded team in the tournament will take on Mandaree, the No. 6-seeded team, at 7 p.m. in opening round action on Thursday.
The top four teams from District 15 will advance to the Region 8 Tournament, which will be played Feb. 20-23 at Williston State College.
Watford City 79, Parshall 74
In a big District 15 matchup, Watford City survived a fourth-quarter charge by Parshall to edge the Braves 79-74 last Tuesday.
Watford City got off to a strong start outscoring the Braves 21-13 in the first quarter. And that eight-point advantage proved to be a major contributor to Watford City’s win as the remainder of the game saw very balanced scoring.
The Wolves led the Braves by six points, 39-32, at halftime with Watford City upping its advantage to 11 points in the third quarter. But Parshall would put together a big rally in the fourth quarter as the Braves cut into Watford City’s lead.
Tyler Bates had the biggest scoring game of his high school career as the junior guard poured in a game high 34 points to help secure the Wolves’ win. Also scoring in double figures for Watford City was Mitchell Liebel who ended the game with 13 points.
Rounding out the scoring for Watford City was Shawn Fulwider with eight points, while Lucas Nicholson, Dustin Kleppen, Michael Schulz and Cole Rolfsrud netted six points each for the victorious Wolves.
Watford City 21 39 62 79
Parshall 13 32 50 74
Beulah 80, Watford City 40
Watford City ran into a buzz saw last Thursday as the Wolves took on Beulah, one of the top Class B basketball teams in the state. And Beulah’s pressing defense proved to be Watford City’s undoing as the Miners rolled over the Wolves 80-40.
Beulah jumped out to a decisive 49-27 halftime lead and outscored the Wolves in the third and fourth quarters to take the easy win.
Shawn Fulwider and Tyler Bates led the Wolves in scoring with 16 and 13 points, respectively.
Also scoring for Watford City was Lucas Nicholson with seven points, while Michael Schulz and Cole Rolfsrud netted two points each.
Beulah 21 49 67 80
Watford City 13 27 30 40
Dickinson Trinity 77, Watford City 48
Watford City struggled against Dickinson Trinity’s high-powered offense and strong defensive play as the Wolves fell to the Titans, 77-48, on Friday evening.
Dickinson led the Wolves by 13 points, 23-10, at the end of the first quarter with the Titans outscoring Watford City in the final three quarters. Dickinson led the Wolves 40-22 at halftime and by 23 points, 57-34, at the end of three quarters.
Tyler Bates and Shawn Fulwider paced Watford City in scoring with 16 and 10 points, respectively.
Rounding out the scoring for the Wolves was Michael Schulz with nine points, Lucas Nicholson and Cole Rolfsrud with five points each, while Reid Brown netted three points in the losing effort.
Dickinson Trin. 23 40 57 77
Watford City 10 22 34 48
Watford City 68, Ray 39
Watford City closed out its final regular game of the season on a strong note on Monday night as the Wolves cruised to an easy 68-39 win over the Ray Jays.
The Wolves outscored the Jays in each of the four quarters of play and held a commanding 38-25 halftime lead. And the Wolves’ offense kept firing in the second half as Watford City outgunned the Jays 18-10 and 12-4 in the final two quarters to secure the win.
The Wolves had two players score in double figures against Ray with Tyler Bates and Shawn Fulwider netting 19 and 17 points, respectively.
Rounding out the scoring for Watford City was Michael Schulz with nine points, Dustin Kleppen with six points, Lucas Nicholson, Cole Rolfsrud and Logan Fettig with four points each, while Mitchell Liebel ended the game with two points.
Watford City 16 38 56 68
Ray 12 25 35 39