The NDAPSSA basketball polls that were released this week — the last edition before the Division A postseason — saw a shift in the boys’ rankings and virtually no change in the girls’.
The Devils Lake boys fell from No. 2 to No. 4 after their loss to Grafton, while the Spoilers rose from No. 4 to No. 2. They were No. 2 earlier in the year, but had been stuck at No. 4 ever since losing a thriller to Devils Lake. The Spoilers got their revenge and ended the Firebirds’ 13-game winning streak.
Four Winds/Minnewaukan stayed at No. 3 after beating Carrington 100-34 and Shiloh Christian 78-61. The Indians are more top-heavy than Devils Lake and Grafton; Deng Deng is clearly the best player in the region and one of the best players in North Dakota, but Devils Lake and Grafton have a deeper array of weapons.
The voters have been consistently harsh to the top teams that lose in a given week. The Firebirds hadn’t lost in nearly two months — since before Christmas, in fact. They’d even beaten Grafton before in arguably the best game played in the Lake Region this year. But recent results matter, and Devils Lake’s loss was enough to drop it down two spots despite holding down the No. 2 slot for several weeks before that. The Firebirds were plagued by 29 fouls; they led at halftime, then only barely trailed at the end of three quarters, but Grafton ran away with it in the fourth quarter.
Kindred is still No. 1 at 19-0, and Beulah is still No. 5. While the gap between Nos. 2-4 is slim, there’s a large gap before Beulah; Devils Lake beat Beulah by 36 points when they faced off. Kindred received all 15 first-place votes — a difference from the previous weeks, when Devils Lake managed to get one or two in each ranking cycle.
Then in the girls’ division, Devils Lake remained at No. 4. The Firebirds won their final five games of the regular season and finished at 16-5 before Tuesday’s playoff game (which they also won). Thompson stayed at No. 1 with a 20-0 record and all 17 of the first-place votes. Between the boys and girls, five of the 10 teams come from Region 2.
Bottineau and South Prairie-Max are No. 2 and 3, respectively, while Nedrose is No. 5.
In Division B, North Star was able to hold onto its freshly minted No. 1 ranking as the regular season came to a close. The Bearcats went 18-1 overall and were undefeated in region and district play. They received eight of the 15 first-place votes, with Glen Ullin-Hebron getting five and Bishop Ryan getting two.
North Star begins its postseason run on Friday in the Division B, District 3 tournament.
Langdon Area/Edmore/Munich girls’ basketball stayed at No. 1 (10 first-place votes) after winning the District 3 tournament. May-Port-C-G remained at No. 2 (four first-place votes) after winning the District 4 tournament. The two squads will face each other on Thursday in the final of the Region 2 tournament.
