With Grafton beating Carrington in a makeup game Wednesday afternoon, the seeding is now set in stone for the Division A, Region 2 boys’ basketball tournament.
- Four Winds/Minnewaukan: 12-2 (19-2 overall)
- Grafton: 11-3 (15-5 overall)
- Hillsboro/Central Valley: 10-4 (13-8 overall)
- Devils Lake: 8-6 (14-7 overall)
- Thompson: 6-8 (8-13 overall)
- May-Port-C-G: 5-9 (9-12 overall)
- Carrington: 2-12 (6-15 overall)
- Harvey/Wells County: 2-12 (7-15 overall)
Four Winds/Minnewaukan had already locked up the No. 1 seed before losing a two-pointer to Hillsboro/Central Valley last week.
The Indians will get No. 8 seed Harvey/Wells County in the first round Monday at Mayville State University. They took the regular-season matchup 87-40.
Devils Lake and Thompson already ironed out their No. 4 and 5 seeds, respectively, in last Friday’s meeting. If H/CV had beaten FW/M, the Firebirds could have gotten the No. 3 seed.
Devils Lake will play Thompson for a spot in the semis. The Firebirds handled business on Friday with a 65-46 victory.
Yes — that means Devils Lake and FW/M will meet in the semifinals, assuming both teams win in the quarters.
It was a similar situation two years ago, in the first season of the three-class system. Both teams were ranked in the top five, as they are this year.
Devils Lake beat FW/M 68-58 in the region semifinals on the way to a state championship. The Indians ended up losing 72-60 to Grafton in the region third-place game. Grafton wound up taking third at state that year.
The Firebirds and Indians have met seven times over three years of competing in the same region. Devils Lake has won four of them.
But this season, FW/M has won both matchups with Devils Lake. The Indians beat the shorthanded Firebirds 86-61, then took the second contest 60-46 in Mason and Max Palmer’s return to the court.
Grafton secured the No. 2 seed with its win over Carrington Wednesday. The Spoilers will play No. 7 seed Carrington on Monday.
H/CV ended up as the No. 3 seed. The Burros will battle No. 6 seed May-Port-C-G in the final game on Monday.
H/CV and May-Port-C-G both played close games against Devils Lake during the regular season. The Firebirds beat H/CV twice, but the second one was only by one point. May-Port-C-G nearly pulled off a comeback against the Indians.
Devils Lake has won the Region 2 championship in each of the last two seasons. The Firebirds ended up going to the state championship game both times.
FW/M is yet to make a Division A state tournament. Last year, the Indians made it to a state qualifier but lost to Wahpeton.
Region 1 is loaded this year — with Wahpeton, Central Cass, Kindred and Oak Grove — meaning that any state qualifier for a Region 2 team will likely be a difficult matchup.
The Region 2 tournament will be held Monday, Tuesday and Thursday at Mayville State University. The state qualifiers are being held the following Saturday at SCHEELS Center in the Sanford Health Athletic Complex in Fargo.
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