FARGO — The Devils Lake boys’ basketball team has finished first, second and third, respectively, in the first three years of competing in Division A.
“If you would have told me three years ago that hey, you’re going to finish first, second, third, I would have taken that, absolutely,” Devils Lake head coach Dustin Brodina said. “So we’re proud of the program, where it’s at and what we’re doing with it. … Hopefully the trend isn’t 1-2-3-4. Hopefully it’s back to 3-2-1.”
The Firebirds responded from Friday night’s disappointment to beat Shiloh Christian (20-7) in the state third-place game Saturday. They grabbed one last win, 63-48, at the Fargodome.
“It’s probably one of the hardest things in sports, is to recover from a loss like that last night,” Brodina said. “High-intensity game, and you come out on the short end, and then you’ve got to turn around in less than 24 hours — not even. This is 12 and a half hours, almost. And turn around and play at a high level, still, because they’re a really hard team.”
Devils Lake finished the season 19-8.
It was a season that had a 4-7 stretch in the middle.
“It was a challenging season, regardless, with the tribulations that we had, I guess you want to call it,” Brodina said. “But it’s good because we learned as coaches, staff. We grew. As a team, we grew and learned a lot of things. Outside of this game of basketball, there’s a lot of things that you’ve got to try to manage and try to teach these guys about life.”
The Firebirds were the No. 1 seed in the state tournament for the first time, but they fell short of the state championship game for the first time.
“Our goal, I guess, at the start of the year, was to be playing this last game and hopefully hoisting that championship trophy,” Brodina said. “But sometimes goals don’t always happen in life. And I guess we’re still happy where we finished. Third place is nothing to hang your head about.”
Brodina’s message going into Saturday’s game was simple: “Give it your all.”
Some of Devils Lake’s stale shooting from Friday carried over into Saturday. The Firebirds took about three minutes to score in each of the first two quarters. Shiloh Christian led 18-13 at one point. Carson Quam led the Skyhawks with 17 points, 13 of which came in the first half.
Mason and Max Palmer combined for 23 points in the half as Devils Lake inched ahead, 31-27.
The Firebirds opened the second half on a 15-2 run to pull away. Max Palmer scored 13 in the third quarter, turning in a 31-point performance in his last high school basketball game.
“Max is a great competitor,” Brodina said. “And he was getting a little frustrated, especially last night and tonight. And once he hits a couple shots, it’s kind of fun to be around because it opens up everything for everybody else. And I’m happy that his last game was a very fun one for him.”
Mason finished with 15 points in his last game.
Kade Fee hit a go-ahead three in the first quarter, totaling seven points and three rebounds in his final high school basketball game.
Bryar Exner had a game-high eight rebounds.
With 1:35 left, Devils Lake leading 63-46, Brodina pulled his starters.
The Palmers, Fee and Exner departed a basketball court for the last time as high schoolers.
“This might be the last time they ever play a competitive basketball game,” Brodina said. “So we want to make sure that we’re growing young men that are going to be contributors to society someday, and great young men.”
The Palmers, stars in three sports, missed six weeks in the middle of the season but took the spotlight when on the court.
Fee and Exner, two linchpins of the state champion football team, were less heralded on the basketball court. They were both first-year starters. They typically didn’t light up the scoring column, but they impacted the game with their defense and rebounding.
They were the captains of the team.
“We’ll be using them for examples for as long as I coach,” Brodina said. “Kids that stick it out. That are tried and true. And come to work every single day. They don’t get the accolades; they don’t get high-point games. But you know what? Their heart is there. They try every day. And they understand their role, working as hard as they can in their role to help the end goal, which is to help the team. And that’s the thing that I’m so proud of those guys. … Being positive every single day, working every day, no matter what. Tired, day after games, they never complain about anything. That’s just hard to replace. That’s stuff that we’ll use for examples as I talk to the underclassmen for years, from here on out.”
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