Marial Deng leaps for the dunk.
DEVILS LAKE — Friday’s game was essentially over before most fans had hardly settled into their seats.
Four Winds/Minnewaukan lived up to its billing as the new No. 1-ranked team in Division A. The Indians played with a looseness and swagger that thoroughly overwhelmed the Stanley Blue Jays.
It was FW/M’s first game since Jan. 12.
“We’ve had a long layoff; it was good to get back on the floor,” head coach Rick Smith said. “I think they were sick of practicing.”
The No. 1 Indians (8-1) won their seventh straight, putting a 90-17 beatdown on Stanley (2-8) in the Devils Lake Youth Activities Shootout. It was about as lopsided a varsity basketball game as one gets.
“They came out and took care of business right away,” Smith said. “Got a chance to get everybody out there.”
The Indians have navigated various injuries and illnesses this season. But their core group was back on the floor Friday. Marial Deng put on a show while doing a little bit of everything; Jonte Delorme and Joran Lohnes hit long-range shots, and Sonny Alberts dominated inside. The bench added a ton of support.
“Each person we got back is a key piece,” Deng said. “We got a shooter back; we got our post back. They just help us in many ways.”
Deng scored nine in the first quarter and 15 in the game before exiting early in the third quarter.
He threw down a trio of two-handed dunks while he was in the game. He let himself have a little hangtime on the first one.
“It’s pretty fun,” Deng said. “I get a steal and see the open floor, I get excited.”
Delorme hit three triples in the first quarter. Alberts added six in the quarter.
Stanley was sloppy in the paint and also wild from long-range. The Blue Jays didn’t score until the 2:19 mark. FW/M got off to leads of 18-0, 28-2 and 57-9.
“Defensively, we talked in the locker room before the game, ‘We can’t be lazy,’” Smith said. “I don’t want bad habits. I want us to play like we’re supposed to play, like we practiced. And we just get after them. Don’t look at the scoreboard. And just make it tough on them to score.”
Lohnes came off the bench for the Indians to score 15 points between the second and third quarter, giving him a team-high 17 overall. Delorme finished with 13, while Alberts had 11.
FW/M’s bench, getting more playing time than usual, totaled exactly half of the Indians’ points with 45.
“We’ve got Joran and Keyson [Littlewind], who could be starters for us,” Smith said. “And now we’ve got Dion [Jackson Jr.] back; Dion can stretch the defense, also. So it gives us a chance to match up against different defenses that teams try to play against us. So we can wear teams down with our eight-man rotation, and sometimes nine. So it’s nice to have everybody back, everybody involved.”
FW/M totaled 11 threes on the night. Jackson Jr. had two of those, while Littlewind had one.
Stanley got 10 of its 17 points from sophomore Tyke Barstad off the bench. He hit two threes in the second quarter. The Blue Jays never had more than two field goals in any quarter.
The Indians’ biggest run was 19-0 in the third, extending their lead to 76-11.
This game, though, was just a precursor to what’s in store for Saturday. The No. 1 Indians are set to take on No. 3 Kindred around 3:30 p.m. on the second day of the shootout.
A week ago, Kindred was No. 1 and FW/M was No. 2. The Vikings’ recent loss to Central Cass bumped them down a couple pegs.
“I love that we rank No. 1,” Deng said. “That was one of the goals coming in. And now we’re going to get every team’s best shot. And I feel like that’s great for us; get us ready for the postseason.”
With a No. 1 ranking and a seven-game win streak going, the Indians are establishing themselves as one of the teams to beat in Division A.
“That’s your goal, is to work towards that — is to be the best team in the state,” Smith said. “That’s your goal: No. 1. And if we have that on our back, then we have that on our back because we earned it. So now we told them, ‘Let’s not give it back. Let’s not give it back to anybody.’”
Smith said he anticipates Saturday to be one of the Indians’ biggest challenges of the season.
With Deng and Brooks Bakko, a pair of future Division I football players get to square off on the basketball court.
“I think Bakko and Marial kind of cancel each other out,” Smith said. “They’re both lengthy players. They both can play inside, outside. They both can give you problems with their length on the defensive side. So our key is the other four guys on the floor. We’ve got to contain them. They’ve been shooting the ball extremely well all year long. And we’ve got to limit that.”
Deng, too, is excited for the challenge.
“Brooks Bakko’s going to be a handful,” Deng said. “He’s going to score some points, but we’ve just got to be able to shut him down a little bit. And then their team’s also good. We’ve just got to be prepared for them. We’ve been preparing for them all week, so hopefully we just go out there and do what we’re supposed to do.”
Other scores from Friday at the Sports Center
No. 3 Kindred 69, Devils Lake 56
Turtle Mountain 63, Thompson 59 (2OT)
Rugby 50, No. 2 Central Cass 81
Bottineau 73, Valley City 53
