Wolverines take battle of unbeatens

SHEFFIELD – A game tabbed to be a tight contest turned out to be anything but after the opening quarter as Class 2A No. 6 Dike-New Hartford came to West Fork and defeated the Class 1A No. 4 Warhawks, 68-52, on Thursday, Jan. 9.

Following a 13-11 lead for coach Frank Schnoes’ team, West Fork struggled from the field while the Wolverines started to heat up to take a commanding 36-25 halftime advantage.

“That’s what we tried to get the inside-out stuff and uncontested looks and I think we did a really good job of that, plus, we got a lot of layups off fast break opportunities,” D-NH coach Greg Moore said. “I think we did a good job of going to the basket in that second quarter. A lot of that was created by our defense and rebounding.

Moore’s squad extended its lead to more than 20 in the fourth quarter before easing off the gas pedal to improve to 9-0. West Fork fell to 9-1.

“I thought it was (a nice win),” Moore said. “They are a heck of a good team. We probably executed as well as we have all year. Some sets and defense as well, so it’s a big step for us, I think.”

For Schnoes and the Warhawks it was somewhat humbling after beating the majority of their opponents by double-digits. West Fork couldn’t stop Dane Fuller, who had 17 points by halftime and finished with 27.

“We knew they would be good,” Schnoes said. “We didn’t execute as well as we needed to. I thought we were pretty tight in the first half, missing some shots and some free throws early and kind of put ourselves in a hole and they went on an 8-0 run in the second quarter. We tried to play catch-up and they were a little quicker than we were in each spot, so we had a tough time keeping them out of the lane. (Dane) Fuller is just a nice player. We had no answer for him.”

The Wolverines were credited with five blocked shots against West Fork, but it appeared that there were more tipped away and seemed like much more than 10 steals credited to the visitors.

Kayden Ames led West Fork with 17 points on 8-of-17 shooting from the field. Jakob Washington, who had eight points at half, had most of his shots altered in the second half to finish with 11.

Both Moore and Schnoes agreed, though not an overly tall team, the Wolverines’ length bothered the Warhawks.

“I thought we got our hands on a lot of balls on shot attempts, tipped and things like that,” Moore said. “We’ve got a lot of guys who aren’t very tall, but they’re longer and I thought Parker Kiewiet came in and did a really nice job on a lot of tipped balls. I thought Dane (Fuller) had a heck of a game for us, but he did a nice job defensively, as well. I thought A.J. did a nice job of running the offense tonight. A lot of good things.”

Schnoes added, “They have long arms, not tall, but they play tall and anticipate really well. Some of the passes we could get through we can against our conference, against Dike they are going to tip them or steal them, so a bit disappointed in that aspect. We played hard and the kids kept battling, but it’s how it goes. We’ll re-group and get back at it tomorrow. Hopefully, we’ll shoot better tomorrow.”

Since both teams are in different classes as opposed to previous seasons, there is no chance the two will see each other in the post-season, but Schnoes said playing the Wolverines is a good thing.

“We won’t be meeting them down the road,” Schnoes said. “It’s good for us to have a challenge and call out our weak spots. They are a solid ball club, very fundamental. We’d have to catch them on an off-night (to be successful).”

Dike-New Hartford 68, West Fork 52

Dike-New Hartford (9-1) – A.J. Wegener 2-5 3-4 7, Nathan Moore 1-3 0-0 2, Zak Wauters 2-3 1-2 5, Landen Sullivan 1-3 0-0 2, Parker Kiewiet 1-1 1-2 3, Drew Sonnenberg 2-3 1-1 5, Noah Epley 1-1 0-0 3, Dane Fuller 10-14 4-4 27, Derek Kinney 5-5 0-1 12, Carter Sherwood 0-0 0-0 0, Matt Reinicke 1-3 0-0 2.Totals 26-41 10-14 68.

West Fork (9-1, 7-0)– Ian Latham 3-6 1-2 9, Brett Weaver 0-0 0-0 0, Kayden Ames 6-17 0-0 17, Noah Maske 0-1 0-0 0, Colin Martinek 0-1 0-0 0, Jakob Washington 5-14 1-4 11, Ren Heimer 1-3 0-0 2, Cail Weaver 1-5 0-0 3, Brayden Vold 3-5 0-0 6, Joe Ingham 2-2 0-2 4. Totals 21-54 2-8 52.

D-NH          11   25   20   12      -   68

W. Fork      13   12   14   13      -   52

Three-point goals – D-NH 6-9 (Fuller 3-4, Kinney 2-2, Epley 1-1, Moore 0-1, Wauters 0-1); WF 8-20 (Ames 5-13, Latham 2-4, C. Weaver 1-1, Maske 0-1, Washington 0-1). Rebounds– D-NH 28, 3 off. 25 def. (Kinney 5, Wegener 4, Kiewiet 4, Sonnenberg 4, Fuller 3, Reinicke 3, Epley 2, Team 2, Wauters); WF 24, 8 off., 11 def. (Ames 9, Washington 6, Maske 2, Vold 2, Ingham 2, Latham, Martinek, Heimer). Assists– D-NH 16 (Wauters 3, Fuller 3, Wegener 2, Moore 2, Kinney 2, Sullivan); WF 15 (Heimer 5, Washington 3, B. Weaver 2, Ames 2, C. Weaver 2, Maske). Steals– D-NH 10 (Moore 4, Wegener 3, Fuller 2, Kiewiet); WF 5 (Washington 2, Ames, Maske, Heimer). Blocks– D-NH 5 (Reinicke 2, Kiewiet, Sonnenberg, Kinney); WF 1 (C. Weaver). Total fouls– D-NH 10; WF 11. Fouled out – None.