January 18, 2012

Wolves pick up three wins

By Neal A. Shipman
Farmer Editor

It was a very good week for Watford City’s varsity boys basketball team as the Wolves racked up wins over Tioga, Mandaree and Divide County to improve their season record to 5-6.
The Wolves got by Tioga, 55-50, last Tuesday before blowing out Mandaree, 73-19, and then capping off the week by edging Divide County, 65-63.
This week, the Wolves will be traveling to Bowman on Friday and then hosting Stanley on Tuesday, Jan. 24.

Watford City 55, Tioga 50
Watford City had their hands full last Tuesday as the Wolves took on a very scrappy Tioga Pirate team. But a strong offensive effort by Watford City’s Shawn Fulwider and Tyler Bates propelled the Wolves to a 55-50 win.
Fulwider and Bates combined to score 43 of the Wolves’ 55 points as Fulwider posted a game high 24 points, while Bates netted 19 points in the winning effort.
The Wolves led the Pirates by two points, 8-6, at the end of the first quarter of play and then led 24-18 at halftime.
With both teams netting 13 points in the third quarter, Watford City would hold off Tioga in the final eight minutes of play to take the win.
Rounding out the scoring for Watford City was Reid Brown and Cole Rolfsrud with four points each, while Lucas Nicholson and Mitchell Liebel would end the game with two points each.
Watford City    8    24    37    55
Tioga                 6    18    31    50


Watford City 73, Mandaree 19
A very young and inexperienced Mandaree team was no match for Watford City last Thursday as the Wolves crushed the Warriors, 73-19.
Watford City’s defense held the Warriors to single-digit scoring in all four quarters of play en route to the easy win.
With the win easily in hand, Watford City’s entire varsity roster saw considerable playing with 12 players making the scoring column.
Shawn Fulwider and Tyler Bates paced the Wolves in scoring with 14 and 13 points, respectively.
Watford City jumped out to a 14-7 first-quarter lead against the Warriors and never looked back. Watford City led Mandaree, 33-9, at halftime and by 28 points, 44-16, at the end of three quarters.
Rounding out the scoring for the Wolves was Michael Schulz and Cole Rolfsrud with eight points each, Brice Brenno with seven points, Reid Brown with five points, Lucas Nicholson with four points, Dustin Kleppen and Logan Fettig with three points each, while Shane Jorgenson and Mitchell Liebel ended the game with two points each.
Watford City    14    33    44    73
Mandaree             7    9    16    19


Watford City 65, Divide County 63
After trailing the Divide County Maroons by 12 points, 35-25, at halftime during Super Saturday action at Williston State College last Saturday, Randy Cranston knew that he was going to need a big second half to pull out a win.
And he got just that as the Wolves outscored the Maroons, 25-11, in the third quarter to not only erase their halftime deficit but to hold a slim two-point advantage. And that two- point margin proved to be the deciding difference as the Wolves hung on to edge the Maroons, 65-63.
Four Watford City players hit double figure scoring against Divide County with Lucas Nicholson pacing the Wolves with 15 points, while Tyler Bates netted 13 points. Shawn Fulwider and Dustin Kleppen each chipped in 11 points to aid in the win.
Rounding out the scoring for Watford City was Mitchell Liebel with nine points, Michael Schulz with five points, Logan Fettig with three points and Reid Brown with two points.
Watford City      13    23    48    65
Divide County    25    35    46    63

WATFORD CITY WEATHER