Hazen edges Wolves Boys in overtime
Titus Stenberg
Farmer Sports Writer
New Town 75
Watford City 57
The New Town Eagles traveled west to the Rough Rider Center and picked up a Region 4 win over Watford City last Monday night. New Town’s opportunistic play helped them build a comfortable lead early that they were able to sustain throughout the night.
“They had 23 second chance points which was essentially the game,” said Watford City head coach, Justin Hager. “We won’t be in any game if we allow that many second chance points.”
Another story of the game was New Town’s 12 steals and 23 points off turnovers. Watford City was able to stay relatively close thanks to some good perimeter shooting, especially from Carter Breitbach who led the Wolves with 20 points and five 3-pointers. The score was 37-33 with 5:02 left in the third quarter. That was the closest the Wolves would get. New Town ended the third with a 15-8 run and then had their highest-scoring quarter in the fourth.
After the loss, Watford City went to work with a couple of intense practices. “Ball security and rebounding were the main focus,” said Coach Hager. “I think the pace and intensity at practice is something the kids have never experienced. There is no down time.”
Watford City now finds themselves in the heart of a difficult Region 4 schedule which provides no margin for error.
“Holding kids accountable for every turnover and missed rebound in practice was the focus,” continued Coach Hager. “We have to be able to emulate a drill and then bring it into a game setting. That’s hard to do because anyone can do a drill, but can you carry over what you learned into a pressure situation? Blocking out a teammate is easy, blocking another player who will do anything for a rebound is much different. We will find guys who want to board. It’s a toughness thing with me. I thought New Town beat us in that department which should never happen. The film session was a transparent one.”
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