January 20, 2015

Three wins get Wolves over .500 mark

By Neal A. Shipman
Farmer Editor

The Watford City varsity boys basketball team improved its season record to 5-4 this past week with wins over Tioga, Lewis & Clark and Stanley.
The Wolves will be at home for their next two games as Watford City hosts Divide County on Saturday and Beach on Monday, Jan. 26.

Watford City 74, Tioga 60
David Kline poured in a game high 36 points as the Watford City Wolves boys varsity basketball team picked up its third straight win with a 74-60 victory over Tioga on Jan. 13.
After the two teams played to a close first half, the Wolves exploded for 34 points in the third quarter to break the game open.
“We had balanced scoring and played better defense in the second half, which led to a victory,” stated Randy Cranston, Wolves’ head coach. “We played very good team basketball, which made us tough to guard, and we continued to make strides on the defensive side of the ball.”
Watford City led the Pirates, 15-6, at the end of the first quarter of play, with Tioga battling back in the second stanza to cut the Wolves’ lead to 29-27, at halftime.
But a solid shooting performance by Watford City in the third quarter would prove to be the difference  in the game as the Wolves outscored Tioga, 34-11, to open the second half action.
Watford City led the Pirates, 63-48, going into the final eight minutes of play, with the Wolves emerging with an easy win.
Rounding out the scoring for the Wolves was Logan Fettig with 14 points, followed by Bo Cook with seven points, Cole McGorman with six points, Seth Indergard and Cameron Runnels with four points each, while Charlie Villanueva ended the game with three points.
“Tioga is one of the favorites in District 16, so it was nice to win a game against a team that we may see in the regional tournament,” stated Cranston on the win.
Watford City    15    29    63    74
Tioga                   6    27    48    60


Watford City 89, Lewis & Clark 71
Watford City used a balanced scoring attack with four players ending the game in double figures to defeat Lewis & Clark, 89-71, last Thursday.
The Wolves jumped out to a 24-16 first quarter lead, and then held on to a four-point, 45-41, halftime lead. In the second half, the Wolves posted a 44-30 scoring advantage to take the win.
“We had another great night on the offensive side of the floor, with another night of balanced scoring,” stated Cranston. “I felt we took a step back on the defensive side of the floor as we gave up way too many easy baskets.”
Logan Fettig paced the Wolves in scoring with 21 points, while Seth Indergard followed with 19 points. Also scoring in double digits for Watford City was David Kline and Cole McGorman with 17 and 12 points, respectively.
“We didn’t handle the ball very well in the first half and gave up a lot of layups,” stated Cranston. “But in the second half we created a lot of turnovers, which led to us scoring a lot of easy baskets.”
Rounding out the scoring for the Wolves was Cameron Runnels with eight points, Bo Cook with three points, while Korbin Knutson, Jarek Houge and Jayden Vaupel ended the game with two points each.
Watford City       24    45    72    89
Lewis & Clark    16    41    51    71


Watford City 81, Stanley 54
Watford City capped off a great week of boys basketball action on Saturday as the Wolves defeated Stanley, 81-54, to improve their season record to 5-4.
“We did a good job of dictating the tempo of the game and created a lot of turnovers with our defensive pressure,” stated Cranston on the win.
The Wolves got off to a good start as they led the Blue Jays by nine points, 19-10, at the end of the first quarter, and then upped their lead to 13 points, 39-26, at halftime.
Watford City continued to pull away in the second half as the Wolves posted scoring advantages of 27-18 and 15-10 in the final two stanzas of play.
David Kline poured in a game high 35 points to pace the Wolves in scoring as four Watford City players hit double-figure scoring in the game. Also scoring in double figures for the Wolves was Logan Fettig with 15 points, while Seth Indergard and Bo Cook netted 10 points each.
“We were able to play everyone in this game and all played well at times,” stated Cranston. “This is nice as we want to continue to get deeper into our bench, which will make us a better all around team.”
Rounding out the scoring for Watford City was Cameron Runnels with seven points, Cole McGorman with two points, while Korbin Knutson and Charlie Villanueva netted one point each.
Watford City    19    39    66    81
Stanley             10    26    44    54

WATFORD CITY WEATHER