HWC boys take three straight

The Harvey-Wells County Boys Basketball team went 3-0 this past week picking up District 8 victories over Drake-Anamoose and Lewis & Clark and also defeating Kidder County. The boys will continue into the heart of District 8 action with games against Velva, Surrey, Glenburn and TGU in the coming weeks.

HWC 62, Drake-Anamoose 53

Harvey-Wells County exploded for 23 first quarter points and held off a late charge from Drake-Anamoose to pick up a 62-53 win over the Raiders in Fessenden on Tuesday, January 23.

HWC rolled in the first quarter as three players scored four or more points enroute to 23 points. Tallen Thorson, Noah Ziegler and Jaxon Feist hit three pointers for the Hornets as they scored 10 of the final 12 points of the first. John Bossert hit all four of his free throws for the Raiders as they trailed 23-10 after one.

Kyle Volson made two free throws and Bossert knocked down a trey to start the second as the HWC lead dwindled to eight. Feist scored eight in the second for the Hornets including back-to-back three pointers to help HWC to a 38-23 lead late into the first half. The Raiders Tyler Meckle and Brady Hauff scored late to cut the lead to 38-27 at halftime.

The Raiders came out strong in the second half with Bossert scoring the five and Meckle adding another deuce on a nice pass from Hauff cutting the lead to six. Kyle Volson would add four points and Hauff two more, pulling D-A to a miniscule two point deficit at 42-40 late in the third. HWC scored the final six points of the third on two free throws from Ziegler and four points from Tyler Swang as the Hornet lead grew to 48-40.

Ziegler's bucket to start the fourth moved the lead back to 10. The Raiders closed the gap to 57-51 at one point but that was the closest that the Hornets allowed them to get. A five point run late in the game put the lead at 11 and the Hornets held on for the 62-53 win.

Feist led the Hornets as the sophomore came off the bench to score 17, including three long range shots and 14 in the first half. Swang and Ziegler were also in double digits with 11 and 10 points respectively. Keaton Keller continued his dominance on the board as the senior led HWC with 15 rebounds. Thorson and Ziegler each reached doubles in boards with 10 each. The Raiders placed four players in double digits and were led by Brossert's 18 points. Kyle Volson scored 13 and Meckle and Hauff chipped in with 10 points each. Bossert also had 7 rebounds, six assists and four steals for the Raiders.

The win for HWC moved them to 2-3 in District 8 and 5-7 overall while the Raiders dropped to 1-6 in district play and 2-12 overall.

HWC 60, Lewis & Clark-Berthold 21

Harvey-Wells County outscored Lewis & Clark 37-6 in the second half and went on for the 60-21 win in Berthold on Thursday, January 25.

It took a little while for the Hornets to warm up but when they did, it was game over for the Bombers. The Hornets finished the first quarter on a 6-1 run to lead 12-5 after the first quarter. Jaxon Feist hit two treys in the second quarter helping the Hornets to a 24-15 halftime lead. Dylan Pank scored four in each of the first two quarters for eight points at halftime.

The Hornets pounced in the third quarter. A 9-0 run with five different players scoring, moved the HWC lead to 33-15. Feist's third three of the game started another string of 13 unanswered points as the Hornets outscored the Bombers 25-4 in the third taking a 48-19 lead into the final quarter.

Ethan Eckart scored five in the final stanza for the Hornets as the reserves got plenty of valuable playing time. The HWC defense held Lewis & Clark to just two points in the fourth for the 60-21 win.

Ten players scored for HWC and were led by Keaton Keller's 11 points. Keller also led every other statistical category with eight rebounds, 4 assists, 4 steals and 3 blocked shots. Avery Williams was also in doubles with 10 points for the Hornets. The Bombers were led by Pank's nine points.

The win for HWC evened their District 8 record to 3-3 and overall record to 6-7. Berthold dropped to 1-5 and 1-10 overall.

HWC 54, Kidder County 41

Harvey-Wells County scored 18 points in the third and held Kidder County to just three in the same period as they pulled away to defeat the Wolves 54-41 in Fessenden on Saturday, January 27.

The Hornets and Wolves played a tight first quarter with the Hornets getting a quick 4-0 lead. Preston Fischer scored four straight to tie the game at four and ended with eight of the 11 first quarter points for Kidder County. Keaton Keller scored six in the first and helped HWC to a slim 13-11 lead after one. The Wolves evened things out in the second as Fischer scored six more and Collin Zimmerman added five. HWC opened up a 25-18 lead with the help of a Noah Ziegler two and one and a field goal from Michael Felchle but Kidder County would knot the game at 25 scoring the final seven points of the half.

The third quarter was all HWC. Kayl Sieg opened the onslaught with a three pointer and was followed by a Keller offensive board putback and then five straight from Ziegler propelling the Hornets to a 10 point lead. Zimmerman would stop the 10-0 run but HWC started another with Avery Williams scoring five in a 8-1 finish to help HWC to a 43-28 lead after three.

The Hornets did just enough in the fourth to hold off the Wolves. Feist connected on two threes for HWC and that was answered by six points from Zimmerman from Kidder County. The Wolves would outscore the Hornets 13-11 in the fourth but the big advantage in the third was enough for HWC to claim a 54-41 victory.

Feist and Keller led HWC in points with 12 and 10 respectively with eight Hornet players scoring four or more.Keller pulled down nine boards and led HWC in assists with five while Thorson and Ziegler each tallied three steals. Fischer and Zimmerman led the Wolves with 16 and 14 points.

The win evened out HWC's season record at 7-7 while Kidder County dropped to 1-13 on the season.

District 8 Boys Basketball

HWC 62, Drake-Anamoose 53

at Fessenden

D-A 10 17 13 13 53

HWC 23 15 10 14 62

HWC: Jaxon Feist 17, Tyler Swang 11, Noah Ziegler 10, Tallen Thorson 8, Keaton Keller 5, Kayl Sieg 4, Avery Williams 4, Teagan Tipton 3.

D-A: John Bossert 18, Kyle Volson 13, Brady Hauff 10, Tyler Meckle 10, Zach Volson 2.

HWC Additional Stats

Rebounds: Keller 15, Thorson and Ziegler 10, Swang 6, Feist and Sieg 2, Ryan McKinven and Tipton 1.

Assists: Thorson 6, Keller 4, Swang and Williams 2, McKinven, Sieg and Ziegler 1.

Steals: Feist and Swang 2, Sieg and Thorson 1.

Blocks: Keller 2, Ziegler 1.

HWC 60, Lewis & Clark-Berthold 21

at Berthold

HWC 12 12 25 12 60

L&C-B 5 10 4 2 21

HWC: Keller 11, Williams 10, Feist 9, Swang 8, Ethan Eckart 5, Ziegler 5, Sieg 4, Thorson 4, Michael Felchle 2, Ty Jenner 2.

L&C-B: Dylan Pank 9, Logan Thompson 7, Benit Sorenson 3, Sam Babinchak 2.

HWC Additional Stats

Rebounds: Keller 8, Sieg and Swang 5, Felchle, Williams and Ziegler 4, Feist, Thorson and Tipton 3, Carter Laber 2, Eckart and Jenner 1.

Assists: Keller 4, Sieg and Thorson 3, Felchle, Jenner, Laber, Williams and Ziegler 1.

Steals: Keller 4, Sieg, Swang, Thorson and Ziegler 1.

Blocks: Keller 3, Williams 1.

Nondistrict Boys Basketball

HWC 54, Kidder Co. 41

at Fessenden

KC 11 14 3 13 41

HWC 13 12 18 11 54

HWC: Feist 12, Keller 10, Ziegler 8, Thorson 7, Sieg 5, Williams 5, Felchle 4, Swang 3.

Kidder Co.: Preston Fischer 16, Collin Zimmerman 14, Grady Larson 4, Blake Binder 2, Jacob Kartes 2, Bryce Larson 2, Lincoln Harter 1.

HWC Additional Stats

Rebounds: Keller and Ziegler 9, Felchle 7, Swang 5, Thorson 3, Feist and Sieg 2.

Assists: Keller 5, Thorson 2, Feist, Felchle, Sieg and Ziegler 1.

Steals: Thorson and Ziegler 3, Felchle, Keller, Sieg and Swang 1.

Blocks: Keller 2, Sieg 1.