Wolves Boys Basketball drop two games
Titus Stenberg
Farmer Sports Writer
New England 51, Watford City 46
Watford City boys basketball traveled down to New England on Tuesday evening where the Tigers beat the Wolves by five.
The entire game was played within a 12-point margin. Watford City held leads in the first and third quarters, with their largest lead being a 34-29 lead in the third. New England’s biggest lead came in the second quarter at 20-13.
“Our defense is improving both in the half and full court,” said Watford City head coach, David Gumke. “We stole the ball 10 times and scored 22 points off of turnovers. We had several full shot clock defensive stands and we were able to be effective in our full court press. We are excited about our full court man-to-man defense. It is coming along nicely. The guys are playing hard and are trusting each other.”
Dominic Latray ended the game with a double-double with 10 points and 11 rebounds, along with four steals. Landon Vetter led the Wolves with three assists.
“We just didn’t shoot the ball very well the whole game,” said Coach Gumke. “I felt like when we did score, we came down on the defensive end and played solid defense only to have the ball bounce their way for easy baskets. We just couldn’t stretch out the lead when we got ahead. Their post player, Teddy Kirschemann, has really improved from last season and is a dominant force inside. He had three blocks that would have been easy scores if he would not have been in position.”
Kirschemann led New England with 18 points, as the Tigers avenged last year’s 73-62 loss to Watford City.
1 2 3 4 Final
Watford City 12 12 12 10 46
New England 15 12 9 15 51
Watford City scoring: Dominic Latray, 10; Trysten DeVries, 9; Xavier McGorman, 7; Carter Breitbach, 6; Sears Wiredu, 5; Landon Vetter, 5; Thaydan Arnold, 4
Bowman County 69, South Heart 62
On Thursday night, Bowman County came up to Watford City and earned a close victory over the Wolves. The first half saw both teams go on lengthy runs. Watford City built an early 10-3 lead. Bowman County ended the first quarter on a 19-7 run. Watford City scored the first six points of the second quarter to get the lead back. Bowman County answered with a 10-4 run and held a precarious 34-33 lead at halftime. Watford City led by as many as three in the third quarter, but once Bowman County got the lead back they would hold on for good.
“I think that the guys are learning that what we are teaching them is working,” said Coach Gumke. “They are seeing results of team play. We are gaining confidence in our play on both ends of the floor. We are also seeing that we can maintain solid play throughout the game on both ends of the floor rather than just a quarter or two. Even though we lost to a very good Bowman team, we are excited with our progress. We still need to work on limiting our turnovers, but that will come as we continue to play as a team. The players will be in a good position to give and receive passes that are on time when or teammate is open. They are understanding how to be available for a pass.”
Bowman County won the turnover margin 21-13 as the Bulldogs scored 20 points off turnovers. The Wolves shot a higher percentage from the field (49 percent to 42 percent). Watford City also had a slight rebounding advantage, 33-31.
“As a team, we shot the ball very well,” said Coach Gumke. “One of our better shooting nights. We had four guys in double figure scoring against Bowman. Dominic Latray ended up with a double-double with 10 points and 11 rebounds against New England. He was very active on the boards. His length helps him get to balls that others can’t. Thaydan Arnold got his second double-double of the season with 14 points and 11 rebounds against Bowman. He is cleaning the glass and finishing very well. Sears Wiredu played hard on both ends of the floor. His full-court ball pressure is outstanding. He tied his best scoring game of the season to go with one of his better defensive games. Probably the first game of the season that he had to ask to be subbed out, because he was playing so hard.”
Watford City’s record stands at 1-9 as they turn their attention to some Region 4 games next on their schedule. With that in mind, Coach Gumke added, “We did a nice job of handling Bowman’s full court run-and-jump defense. We were able to advance the ball and score out of it. Probably the first time in my career that we got a team to get out of their run-and-jump because we handled it so well. This is good for us as we have teams on our schedule that will run-and-jump, Killdeer being the main one. Also, our full court press has been effective. We have had several near 10-second calls or coaches having to call timeout to avoid the 10-second call.”
1 2 3 4 Final
Watford City 17 16 11 18 62
Bowman Co. 22 12 14 21 69
Watford City scoring: Sears Wiredu, 15; Thaydan Arnold, 14; Trysten DeVries, 11; Dominic Latray, 10; Carter Breitbach, 6; Xavier McGorman, 3; Landon Vetter, 3
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