Tough tourney for Wolves

On Thursday night, the Wolves took on the Faith Longhorns in the opening round of the Annual West River Tournament in Newell, SD. The Wolves came out ready to play and took a 13-9 lead after the first quarter.

In the second quarter, the Longhorns used their length to really bother us and took a halftime 25-22 lead. In the third quarter, Moorcroft came out sluggish and the Longhorns were hitting their shots and extended their lead to 37-27 going into the fourth quarter.

The Wolves fought all the way to the end, but the Longhorns prevailed, 59-43. I thought we did some really nice things against a really good basketball team, but their length and athleticism was too much for us in the end.

On Friday, the Wolves played Newell, SD. The team jumped out to a 12-4 lead after the first quarter and extended their lead into halftime to take a 24-10 lead into the break.

The Wolves came out on fire in the third quarter and extended their lead to 42-12. In the end, the Wolves prevailed, 53-24. I thought we played well defensively and that created some easy shots for us.

On Saturday, the Wolves got to play in the Rapid City Civic Center in the consolation championship and faced off against the Wall Eagles. Wall jumped out to an 18-9 first quarter lead and took a 30-17 halftime lead.

They zoned us for much of the first half and, with their length, we struggled to find open shots and, when we did, they just weren’t falling for us. In the end, Wall proved to be too much and went on to win, 56-26.

It was a tough way to end our tournament, but the boys never quit and played hard. We show flashes, at times, of becoming a good basketball team and then fell into old habits other times.

Cole Stripp was named by the coaches for the All-Tourney team.

The Wolves will start conference play on Thursday night when they travel to Big Horn to take on the Rams. Thank you all for your continued support of Wolves athletics.