January 23, 2013

Wolves post two victories

By Neal A. Shipman
Farmer Editor

With wins over Tioga and Divide County this past week, Watford City’s varsity boys basketball team got its season record back to .500. And the Wolves, who are now 5-5 on the season, hope to keep their winning ways going as they host Bowman on Friday and then host the Beach Bucs on Saturday afternoon.

Watford City 61, Tioga 49
Watford City got off to a slow start against Tioga last Tuesday as the Wolves led the Pirates by just five points, 16-11, at the end of the first quarter. But strong second- and third-quarter offensive efforts by the Wolves proved to be the key to a 61-49 win.
Three Watford City players scored in double digits against Tioga with Tyler Bates, Reid Brown and Mitchell Liebel netting16, 15 and 10 points, respectively.
Watford City led the Pirates, 36-21, at halftime and by 18 points, 47-29, going into the final eight minutes of play.
Rounding out the scoring for the Wolves was Michael Schulz with eight points, Logan Fettig with six points, Dustin Kleppen with four points, while Cole Rolfsrud ended the game with two points.
Watford City    16    36    47    61
Tioga                  11    21    29    49


Watford City 60, Divide County 41
After finding themselves trailing Divide County 8-0 in the early minutes of the first quarter, Watford City got its offense back on track and the Wolves defeated the Maroons, 60-41, at the Northwest Shootout at the Williston State College last Saturday.
“We started off slow but battled through some poor shooting early,” stated Randy Cranston, Wolves’ head coach. “The players worked hard to overcome our bad shooting percentage in the first half. Defensively, we played well enough to win but still have a long way to go.”
The Wolves trailed the Maroons, 15-11, at the end of the first quarter but outscored Divide County, 15-6, in the second quarter to take a 26-21 halftime lead.
While neither team seemed to be able to buy a basket in the third quarter. With the Wolves outscoring the Maroons, 9-5, Watford City was able to get its offense back on track in the fourth quarter as they outscored Divide County, 25-15, to pick up the win.
Tyler Bates and Reid Brown paced the Wolves in scoring with 21 and 12 points, respectively. Also scoring for Watford City was Cole Rolfsrud with eight points, Michael Schulz with six points, Mitchell Liebel with five points, Logan Fettig with four points, Dustin Kleppen with three points and Seth Indergard with one point.
Watford City       11    26    45    60
Divide County    15    21    26    41

WATFORD CITY WEATHER