Shiloh Christian defeats Wolves Boys Basketball
Titus Stenberg
Farmer Sports Writer
Shiloh Christian 83,
Watford City 55
The No. 4-ranked team in the state visited Watford City on Friday night and took control of the game with a 29-9 first quarter. The Skyhawks had four different players make one 3-pointer each, and made 12 total field goals in their explosive first quarter.
“We definitely did not come out ready to play,” said Watford City head coach, David Gumke. “Our defense was very poor. We could not keep guys in front and continually let them get to the basket. The pregame speech was about playing solid defense and doing your job to keep your guy in front. We tried a couple of zone defenses, but still could not get them stopped. We decided to stay in man-to-man and see if they could figure it out. The second half was much better. We outscored them in the third quarter. The third quarter has been a problem for us most of the season, so progress was made there. We played even with them in the fourth quarter, so we won the second half. That’s something to build on. It was good to see our guys fight back a little bit.”
Watford City limited their turnovers in the second half, but Shiloh’s lead proved to be insurmountable. With the loss, Watford City’s record dropped to 1-13 with seven regular season games left on the schedule.
“After the game, I told them offensively we are getting good looks at the basket,” said Coach Gumke. “We may not make most of them but we get good enough looks to have opportunities to score. We have to take pride on defense. Each individual needs to make it a priority to focus on the defensive end to get stops, keep their guy in front, and limit their opponents scoring. I know that it didn’t look like it tonight, but we work on defense a lot. It was very disappointing that we didn’t play better on that end of the floor. We have played good defense in spurts, but it has to be a sustained effort. I tell them that your defense can create offense, so embrace it and make it a priority.
Shiloh will likely climb in the statewide rankings as they beat No. 3 Killdeer 92-65 on Monday and got a 74-62 road win over Central Cass on Saturday.
1 2 3 4 Final
Shiloh Christian 29 22 18 14 83
Watford City 9 11 21 14 55
Watford City scoring: Thaydan Arnold, 13; Trysten DeVries, 10; Sears Wiredu, 10; Carter Breitbach, 5; Kyle Best, 4; Xavier McGorman, 4; Dominic Latray, 4; Joe Bear, 2; Jude Long, 2; Brandon Spacher, 1
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