Devils Lake trailed by 13 with 5:30 on the clock.
As the Firebirds tried to stage their comeback, Bryar Exner missed a pair of free throws.
They were still down six in the final minute of regulation.
“You want dogfights,” Devils Lake head coach Dustin Brodina said on the Your Live Event postgame show, “and that’s how you get better. I know we learned a lot tonight.”
Kade Fee made a put-back, then intercepted a pass to get the ball back in Devils Lake’s hands. Ben Brodina hit a corner three with 14 seconds left. The Firebirds were within one.
With just 10 seconds on the clock, Hillsboro/Central Valley’s Bryce Miller made 1-of-2 free throws. The Burros led, 62-60, in the second of two regular-season region battles with Devils Lake at Central Valley School in Buxton.
On the final possession, Brodina missed a go-ahead three. The rebound bounced off of Alex Hammond’s hands to Fee, who passed it back to Exner.
As time expired, Exner missed a three-point attempt while drawing a foul on Rylan Buchholz. After the game briefly appeared to be over, the foul was called, adding one second to the clock. Burros fans and players keeled over in disbelief.
Exner went to the line for three free throws. He’d missed his previous three and had been 4-for-8 on the night.
“My god, what a stage,” Brodina said. “It’s kind of like bottom of the ninth, two outs, you’ve got one strike left.”
Exner hit all three. There was a timeout after the first one, and the third one took a fortunate bounce. But Exner locked down the trio of free throws with one second on the clock in a wild 63-62 Firebirds win on Thursday.
“‘Rollercoaster’ would probably be the right word. A roller coaster up and down,” Brodina said. “Strategy-wise, they threw stuff at us, we threw stuff at them. We threw punches, and they threw punches. That was definitely a 12-round knockout fight, for sure.”
Devils Lake (10-5, 4-3) had opened the game in a 21-9 deficit.
The Firebirds went on a 13-0 run between the first and second quarter, then were tied 31-31 at halftime. After H/CV’s Miller and Tyson Leshuk combined for 16 points in the first quarter, they were held scoreless in the second.
“I’m proud of our guys. They didn’t quit,” Brodina said. “They kept fighting. Fighting really hard. Some things we need to shore up when they’re throwing different stuff at us. And we hadn’t played in a week, and some of these guys are sick, so I think that was a little jitters in the first quarter.”
Exner led the offense in the first half with 14 points. He hit a triple early on, then later made four of his first five free throws.
The Firebirds found themselves in another hole after the halftime break. H/CV (6-8, 4-4) scored the first five points of the third quarter and went on a late 10-0 run. The Burros led by 13 at times in both the third and fourth quarter.
Around midway through the fourth, H/CV’s Chase Haffely committed his fourth and fifth fouls in a 10-second span. Brodina made a layup and a deep three to cut the deficit to six.
Hammond and Fee reached three and four fouls, respectively. The Burros went 7-for-10 from the free throw line in the fourth quarter and 11-for-17 in the game.
Brodina’s three triples, giving him 11 in the second half and 18 in the game, carried Devils Lake’s late surge. But Fee, Hammond, Exner and Talan Gregory all had key plays interspersed throughout. Miguel Dunn also hit a three near the start of the fourth quarter.
“They got after it, got some steals and got some finishes at the bucket,” Brodina said. “Some guys worked really hard, and I’m proud of them.”
At the end, the ball was put in Exner’s hands.
The Firebirds on the bench leapt from their seats as the final free throw rolled in.
“I’m proud of him,” Brodina said. “That was really clutch.”
Exner finished tied with Brodina for the team lead with 18 points.
“He’s kind of the leadership that we’ve been waiting all year for,” Coach Brodina said. “I thought he stepped up phenomenally tonight.”
The Firebirds have now won three in a row. The win kept them in fourth place in Region 2, a spot ahead of H/CV. They took both regular-season contests over the Burros.
“This is a tough region. All these teams are tough, and nothing’s easy. And everybody’s fighting for position come region time,” Brodina said. “And who knows? We’ll probably end up seeing them again. And it’ll be a dogfight again.”
Devils Lake has a 4-3 region points record with five points still on the table. The Firebirds host No. 1 Four Winds/Minnewaukan for their second matchup with the Indians on Tuesday, after losing badly in the first one.
FW/M also won a region game Thursday night, a two-pointer on the road against Grafton. It was yet another high-scoring game for Grafton (11-3, 7-2), with the Indians (13-1, 9-0) taking it 92-84 for their 12th straight win. Jonte Delorme led FW/M with 31 points.
Devils Lake will have a two-pointer on the road against May-Port-C-G on Feb. 16, then a two-pointer at home against Thompson in the regular-season finale on Feb. 27.
The Firebirds go into Tuesday’s game with a shot of adrenaline after things got pretty hairy Thursday night.
“I’m glad we’re coming out of here with a win. Tough place to play,” Brodina said. “Fun to be a part of. I’ll remember it for a long time.”
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