December 11, 2013

Wolves open season with a pair of wins

By Neal A. Shipman
Farmer Editor

The Watford City varsity boys basketball team kicked off its season with a pair of wins as the Wolves defeated the Williston Trinity Christian Crusaders and the South Heart Cougars prior to falling to the Minot Bishop Ryan Lions.
The Wolves will be on the road this weeks as Watford City travels to New Town on Thursday and Hazen on Saturday.
Watford City 78, Trinity Christian 62
Watford City got off to a fast start on Monday night against Trinity Christian to pick up a win in their first game of the season.
The Wolves completely dominated the Crusaders in the opening eight minutes of play as Watford City exploded to a 30-5 first quarter lead. The Crusaders cut the Wolves’ lead to 43-20 at halftime, but Watford City continued to control the tempo of the game.
Watford City increased its lead to 28 points, 66-38, at the end of three quarters before Trinity Christian outscored the Wolves, 24-12, in the final eight minutes.
Three Watford City players ended the game in double figures with David Kline pacing both teams in scoring with 30 points, while Mitchell Liebel and Andrew Sampsel netted 13 and 12 points, respectively, for the Wolves.
Watford City hit five three-pointers in the game, but was only good on three of 13 attempts at the charity stripe.
Rounding out the scoring for Watford City was Logan Fettig with six points, Cole McGorman with four points, Bo Cook and Seth Indergard with three points each and Dustin Kleppen with one point.
Watford City         30    43    66    78
Trinity Christian    5    20    38    62

Watford City 54, South Heart 49 (OT)
Watford City outscored Heart River 8-3 in overtime, as the Wolves earned their second win of the season with a  54-49 victory over the Cougars.
In a low scoring game with both teams struggling to make a shot, the Wolves led the Cougars, 15-11, at the end of the first stanza. But Heart River would take advantage of several Watford City turnovers in the second quarter to take a 28-23 halftime lead.
Watford City’s offensive woes continued in the third quarter as the Wolves could only muster nine points, while Heart River would up their lead to seven points, 39-32.
But the Wolves, behind the scoring of Logan Fettig and Mitchell Liebel, were able to battle back into the game during the fourth quarter to deadlock the score at 46-46.
In overtime, it was all Watford City as the Wolves outgunned the Cougars, 8-3, to take the hard-fought win.
Logan Fettig had a game high 17 points to lead both teams in scoring, while Mitchell Liebel and David Kline ended the game with 15 and 11 points, respectively for the Wolves.
Also scoring for Watford City was Andrew Sampsel with seven points, Dustin Kleppen with two points and Bo Cook and Seth Indergard with one point each.
Watford City was 10 of 22 at the free-throw line.
Watford City    15    23    32    46    54
Heart River      11    28    39    46    49


Minot Ryan 61, Watford City 51
Watford City fell behind Minot Ryan, 15-1, early in the first quarter on Saturday as the Wolves fell to the Lions, 61-51, for their first loss of the season.
The Wolves trailed the Lions 33-16 at halftime. But Watford City came out hot to start the second half as the Wolves went on a 17-3 scoring run that cut Minot Ryan’s lead to five points with 3:48 left in the quarter.
But the Lions would answer back to take an 11-point lead, 44-33, at the end of three quarters.
Logan Fettig and David Kline led Watford City in scoring with 19 and 18 points, respectively.
Rounding out the scoring for the Wolves was Mitchell Liebel and Andrew Sampsel with six points each,  Charles Villanueva with two points and Seth Indergard with one point.
Minot Ryan    19    33    44    61
Watford City     7    16    33    51

WATFORD CITY WEATHER