Wolves edge Bowman
By Neal A. Shipman
Farmer Editor
After squeaking out a one-point win over the Bowman Bulldogs, Watford City’s varsity boys basketball team rolled over the Beach Bucs, 71-48, last week to improve its season record to 7-5.
This week, the Wolves will be at homes as Watford City hosts New Town on Thursday and Trenton on Saturday before traveling to Parshall on Tuesday, Feb. 5.
Watford City 51, Bowman 50
Watford City struggled at the free-throw line and lost the battle on the boards against Bowman last Thursday. But in spite of their struggles, the Wolves were able to pull off a come-from-behind win.
“We once again played well at times,” stated Randy Cranston, Wolves’ head coach. “It was nice to see the players battle back after surrendering a lead to get a win. I’m not sure if I have coached a game where we got out-rebounded and missed so many free throws and won.”
Watford City got off to a good first quarter start against the Bulldogs posting a 19-14 first quarter lead before Bowman cut the Wolves’ advantage to three points, 28-25, at halftime.
Bowman would take control of the action in the third quarter outscoring Watford City 14-8, but the Wolves never gave up as they battled back to pull off the 51-50 come-from-behind win.
Tyler Bates and Michael Schulz paced the Wolves in scoring with 12 and 11 points, respectively. Rounding out the scoring for Watford City was Reid Brown with nine points, Cole Rolfsrud with eight points, Mitchell Liebel with six points, Dustin Kleppen with three points and Shane Jorgenson with two points.
Watford City 19 28 36 51
Bowman 14 25 39 50
Watford City 71, Beach 48
With a 71-48 win over the Beach Bucs last Saturday, the Watford City Wolves extended their winning steak to four games and improved their season record to 7-5.
The Wolves used a strong first quarter offensive effort to set the tone of the game early against the Bucs as Watford City jumped out to a 20-7 lead after the first eight minutes of play.
Watford City, who had three players end the game with double-digit scoring, then upped its lead to 16 points, 38-22, at halftime.
Pacing the Wolves in scoring was Reid Brown, who ended the game with a game high 20 points, followed by Tyler Bates and Michael Schulz with 16 and 12 points, respectively.
The Bucs would cut into Watford City’s lead slightly in the third quarter, but the Wolves would finish strong outscoring Beach, 25-14, in the fourth stanza to take the win.
Rounding out the scoring for Watford City was Cole Rolfsrud with six points, Mitchell Liebel and Shane Jorgenson with five points each, Seth Indergard with three points, while Brandon Stoker and Dustin Kleppen ended the game with two points each.
Watford City 20 38 46 71
Beach 7 22 34 48