December 18, 2013

Tough week for basketball

By Neal A. Shipman
Farmer Editor

Watford City had its hands full as the Wolves fell to the New Town Eagles in District 15 action last Thursday.
After jumping out to a 2-0 record in their first week of play, the Watford City varsity boys basketball team has picked up three straight losses. The Wolves slid to a 2-3 record this past week as Watford City fell to New Town, 65-49, on Thursday and then fell to Hazen, 86-65, on Saturday.
The Wolves will now take an extended break over the Christmas holiday and return to action on Jan. 3 when Watford City travels to Bowman.
New Town 65, Watford City 49,
Watford City had its hands full last Thursday as the Wolves traveled to New Town for a District 15 contest.
The Wolves trailed the Eagles, 17-13, at the end of the first quarter of play, and then battled back to a two-point, 34-32, halftime deficit.
But the second half belonged to New Town as the Eagles went on a 16-8 third quarter scoring spree to take a 10-point, 50-40, lead going into the final eight minutes of play. New Town would cap off the win outscoring the Wolves, 15-9, in the fourth quarter.
“We really struggled offensively in the third quarter,” Randy Cranston, Wolves’ head coach. “We just couldn’t get anything going and New Town hit some outside shots to spark them in the second half.”
David Kline and Mitchell Liebel paced the Wolves in scoring in the losing effort with 16 and 12 points, respectively.
Rounding out the scoring for Watford City was Logan Fettig with eight points, Andrew Sampsel with six points, Cole McGorman with five points, while Dustin Kleppen ended the game with two points.
New Town        17    34    50    65
Watford City    13    32    40    49


Hazen 86, Watford City 69
After holding a 19-17 first quarter lead against a very strong Hazen team, Watford City’s offense went cold on Saturday as the Wolves fell to the Bison, 86-69.
The Bison’ offense turned up the pressure on the Wolves in the second quarter as Hazen outgunned Watford City, 30-10, to take control of the game holding a 47-29 halftime advantage.
“We played with them three of the four quarters,” stated Cranston. “However,  in the second quarter we struggle on the defensive end of the floor. Plus we up 30 points off turnovers and 24 off second chance points.”
Hazen led Watford City by 14 points, 61-47, at the end of three quarters of play, and then coasted to a 86-69 victory.
Watford City’s David Kline led both teams in scoring as he ended the game with 28 points, including three three-pointers.
Joining Kline in double-digit scoring for the Wolves was Dustin Kleppen, who ended the game with 13 points.
Also scoring for Watford City was Andrew Sampsel with nine points,  Logan Fettig with eight points,  Mitchell Liebel and Cole McGorman with five points each, while Charles Villanueva scored one point.
Hazen                17    47    61    86
Watford City    19    29    47    69

WATFORD CITY WEATHER