WC Boys split pair against Eastern opponents
Titus Stenberg
Farmer Sports Writer
Watford City traveled east to Carrington for two non-Region games between Christmas and New Year’s Day, as they participated in the Carrington Holiday Basketball Shootout. The Wolves lost to Region 1 Northern Cass by six points, but then bounced back to defeat Region 2 Carrington by nine.
Northern Cass 52,
Watford City 46
Watford City fell behind the Jaguars early in this one. “Our defensive rotations were not good early,” said Watford City head coach, Justin Hager. “We were not communicating on defense and locating their shooters who we knew who they were. They shot 27 three-pointers and made 11. They can shoot it. Our first quarter has been our Achilles’ heel this year in every game we haven’t won.”
The Wolves played competitively in the second half and the result was in doubt until the very end. “We showed some grit and toughness and adjusted and made them earn everything,” said Coach Hager. “We crashed the boards with 31 rebounds and took care of the ball. We had five guys with 9 or 10 points so that’s huge and our bench did a great job giving us a lift and supplying us with some valuable minutes. Losing (Trysten) DeVries with 5 minutes left hurt and (Thaydan) Arnold fouling out, but we are going to play physical and fast-paced. We made some big shots and defensively our full court pressure, getting in passing lanes, getting deflections really disrupted their offensive flow which is what we try to do with everyone. Proud of our grit fighting back, but we have to build confidence knowing we can be in every game, but cannot dig ourselves a hole.”
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