February 2, 2016

Watford boys pick up cage win over Beach

By Neal A. Shipman
Farmer Editor

Watford City’s boys basketball team picked up its fourth win of the season on Jan. 25, when the Wolves defeated the Beach Bucs, 72-55, before falling to Our Redeemers, 81-51, on Saturday.
This week, the Wolves will travel to Beulah on Friday before hosting Heart River on Saturday, Feb. 6, and will then travel to Shiloh Christian on Tuesday, Feb. 9.
Watford City 72, Beach 55
Watford City used a strong first quarter offensive effort to set the tone for a win over the Beach Bucs on Monday, Jan. 25.
The Wolves took an early, 17-8, first quarter lead and then finished off the Bucs in the third quarter.
“We changed the starting lineup again and got off to a better start than in previous games,” stated Randy Cranston, Wolves’ head coach. “We played better team basketball on both ends of the floor.”
Watford City led the Bucs by eight points, 36-28, at halftime, but then took control of the game in the third quarter with the Wolves outscoring Beach, 22-13.
“Basketball is a funny game as Beach lost to Trinity Christian by four points,” stated Cranston. “We lost to Trinity Christian by 37 points, then turned around and beat Beach by 17 points.
Cranston credits the difference in those two games in his players playing better team basketball.
“We still had way too many turnovers with 28,” stated Cranston. “However, those turnovers did not result in layups for Beach. We also shot the ball better from the outside hitting nine three-pointers.”
Seth Indergard and Jarek Hogue paced the Wolves in scoring with 18 and 17 points, respectively.
Rounding out Watford City’s scoring was Nevada Berquist with nine points, Riley Headings with eight points, Cole McGorman and Kason Hartel with seven points each, while Korbin Knutson and Jessen Homiston ended the game with two points each.
“We have a very challenging schedule ahead as we take on Dickinson High, Beulah, Heart River, Shiloh Christian, Dickinson Trinity, Parshall and Killdeer,” states Cranston. “These teams will definitely expose what we still need to work on and what we can have success with as they are all top teams in their region, and three to five of these teams are ranked high in the state. All in all, these games will make us a better team come tournament time if we learn from them, play hard during them and focus on every possession.”
Watford City    17    36    58    72
Beach                 8    28    41    55

Our Redeemers 81, Watford City 51
Watford City dug themselves into a deep hole early against a very good Our Redeemers team on Saturday as the Wolves fell to the Knights, 81-51.
The Knights scored the first 11 points of the game with the Wolves never being able to challenge.
“We battled back and hung in the game well until the two-minute mark of the second quarter,” stated Cranston. “We were only down nine points at that time, but we had some unforced errors and Our Redeemers shot well in the final two minutes.”
After trailing the Knights by 11 points, 17-6, at the end of the first quarter, the Wolves trailed Our Redeemers, 38-20, at halftime.
“When we did a good job and tried to take away the inside they hit shots from the outside,” stated Cranston. “When we tried to cover up on the outside, they would beat us on the inside. They are a very solid team and will be right in the thick of things at the end of the season.”
The second half belonged entirely to the Knights as Our Redeemers outscored the Wolves, 28-16, in the third quarter.
Cole McGorman and Seth Indergard paced Watford City in scoring with 15 and 11 points, respectively, in the loss.
Also scoring for the Wolves was Kason Hartel with five points, Jessen Homiston and Jadyn Ewing with four points each, Riley Headings and Nevada Berquist with three points each, while Jarek Hogue, Matt Neprash and Logan Mehlhoff ended the game with two points each.
“We continue to play some of the best teams in the state,” states Cranston. “We just now need to realize that we need to continue to work hard and know that we can compete with these teams as long as we play hard, have confidence, and take care of the ball.”
Our Redeemers    17    38    66    81
Watford City             6    20    36    51

WATFORD CITY WEATHER