December 14, 2011

Wolves stumble against New Town

By Neal A. Shipman
Farmer Editor

Watford City saw its season record drop to 2-2 as the Wolves fell to New Town, 60-46, in District 15 action last Thursday.
This week the Wolves will be traveling to Hazen on Tuesday, Dec. 20
New Town 60, Watford City 46
Last year, Watford City could never find a way to beat the New Town Eagles. And in the two teams’ first matchup of the 2011-12 season, the Eagles kept their winning streak intact as they battled back from a 15-12 first-quarter deficit to knock off the Wolves.
“We gave up 27 points off turnovers which really hurt us,” stated Randy Cranston, Wolves’ head coach. “Plus we gave them way too many second-chance points and we shot poorly at the free-throw line (10 of 21) which both contributed to the loss.”
While the Wolves would hold a 15-12 first-quarter lead, New Town rallied in the second quarter in spite of three of their players getting into foul trouble early in the first half.
New Town would outscore the Wolves, 21-11, in the second stanza to hold a 33-26 halftime lead and then upped their lead to 11 points, 47-36, going into the final eight minutes of play.
Lucas Nicholson and Shawn Fulwider paced the Wolves in scoring with 13 and 11 points, respectively
“We played hard against New Town, but just ran out of gas in the fourth quarter,” stated Cranston.
The Wolves managed to cut New Town’s lead to four points with six minutes left in the game as Watford City rallied to score seven points in the first minute of play in the fourth quarter. But with the Wolves only scoring three points in the final six minutes, New Town was able to keep Watford City at bay.
“We played well at times but we just gave New Town too many opportunities,” stated Cranston.
Rounding out the scoring for the Wolves was Reid Brown with eight points, Tyler Bates and Mitchell Liebel with six points each, while Dustin Kleppen ended the game with two points.
New Town        12    33    47    60
Watford City    15    26    36    46

WATFORD CITY WEATHER