Wolves split to open cage season
By Neal A. Shipman
Farmer Editor
The Watford City varsity boys basketball team kicked off its season with a win and a loss this past week as the Wolves defeated the Williston Trinity Crusaders and then fell to the South Heart Cougars.
The next action for the Wolves will be on Thursday when they travel to New Town before hosting Minot Ryan on Friday and Hazen on Saturday.
Watford City 59, Williston Trinity 43
Watford City used a strong second half to pull away from a pesky Williston Trinity Crusader team last Tuesday to get off to a 1-0 start.
The Wolves led the Crusaders 14-13 at the end of the first quarter and then upped their advantage to 28-20 at halftime.
Reid Brown and Michael Schulz provided Watford City’s scoring punch as the pair scored 37 of the Wolves’ points. Brown ended the game with 21 points, while Schulz netted 16 points in the winning effort.
The Wolves continued to dominate the offensive action in the second half as the Crusaders were plagued with turnovers.
Watford City outscored Trinity Christian, 16-10, in the third quarter and then coasted to the easy win.
Rounding out the scoring for Watford City was Tyler Bates with nine points, Dustin Kleppen with six points, Mitchell Liebel with four points, Cole Rolfsrud with two points and Andrew Sampsel with one point.
Watford City 14 28 44 59
Trinity 13 20 30 43
South Heart 65, Watford City 48
Watford City had no answer for the quickness of Heart River’s guards as the Cougars defeated the Wolves 65-48 last Thursday evening.
While the Wolves were able to take advantage of their inside size to score, Heart River’s scrappy defense kept Watford City from being able to establish an offensive rhythm.
Heart River led the Wolves 14-11 at the end of the first quarter and then upped its lead to 29-23 at halftime.
Watford City’s offensive woes continued in the second half as the Wolves were outscored 23-11 in the third quarter as the Wolves suffered their first loss of the season.
Three Watford City players scored in double figures in the contest with Michael Schulz pacing the Wolves with 15 points, while Tyler Bates and Reid Brown netted 14 points each.
Also scoring for Watford City was Dustin Kleppen and Cole Rolfsrud with three and two points, respectively.
Heart River 14 29 52 65
Watford City 11 23 34 48