Good weekend of basketball for Wolves

On Thursday, the Moorcroft Wolves boys’ basketball team traveled to Wall, SD to take on the Eagles in the first round of the 39th annual West River Classis Basketball Tournament.

The Wolves came out flat and trailed at halftime to the Eagles, 29-10. The boys came out of halftime and executed much better in the third quarter and narrowed the gap to 41-28 entering the fourth. The fourth quarter was back and forth, but the Eagles would prevail, 52-39.

Wall played a matchup zone that we really struggled with in the first half and we just couldn’t get any shots to fall. I thought we did a much better job executing in the second half, but had dug ourselves too big of a hole to climb out of.

In the second round, we played the Edgemont Moguls in Wall on Friday afternoon. The Wolves got off to a much better start and led 11-6 after the first, but the second quarter was full of fouls and really slowed the pace of the game down.

We struggled pressuring them without fouling and the Moguls would shoot 18 free throws in the second quarter, making 12 of them. At halftime, the game was tied, 21-21.

We came out in the second half and adjusted and played an excellent third quarter. We ran the court well and started hitting some of our outside shots.

We went on to score 26 points in the third while holding the Moguls to 13 and took a 47-33 lead into the fourth. The fourth quarter was back and forth and the Wolves prevailed, 59-50.

On Saturday, the Wolves faced the New Underwood Tigers in the Fifth/Sixth Place game at the Rapid City Civic Center.

We came out on Saturday and really executed well and took an 18-9 lead into the second and played well in the second quarter, taking a 35-21 lead into halftime. The Tigers came out in the third quarter and really played excellent defense and we struggled to find open shots.

The Tigers clawed their way back into the game and after the third, it was 40-34. We struggled again in the fourth offensively, but stepped up our defensive pressure and prevailed, 46-42.

The boys brought home the consolation plaque and were very excited. I thought, overall, we had a good weekend of basketball, we got to face teams we don’t usually get to see and it’s really going to help us prepare for our conference games.

We usually put two good quarters a game together but really struggle to put a complete game together. We are going to continue to work hard and fix the inconsistencies.

On Friday, the Boys Junior Varsity (JV) team traveled to Newell to take on the Faith Longhorns JV squad. The boys really struggled with turnovers, but played really hard. Coach Petersen was pleased with the effort but the Longhorns prevailed, 46-23.