Deng Deng has been one of the biggest stories in Lake Region basketball this season. The 6-foot-4 senior is committed to play football at the University of North Dakota — so basketball isn’t even his best sport — yet he’s easily one of the best basketball players in the state. He routinely puts up point totals in the 20s and 30s, and has even reached the 40s.
But this isn’t just his career year; it’s the first season he’s gotten to start alongside his brother.
Meet Marial Deng, a player you might not even guess is Deng’s brother if you didn’t know his last name. Marial is stringier and quieter than Deng. He’s two years younger, yet he’s the same height at 6-foot-4. This is Marial’s first year starting on the varsity team.
“It’s my first time actually playing minutes with him,” Deng said. “So I feel like it’s pretty special.”
The Deng brothers grew up in Tokio, North Dakota, an unincorporated community just south of Spring Lake. Not to be confused with the Tokyo in Japan, Tokio only consists of a handful of houses off of Highway 20. Growing up, the Deng brothers would go outside and play football, basketball, softball and baseball, along with exploring the surrounding nature.
“It’s pretty small, so everybody knows who everybody is,” Deng said. “It’s a nice little community that you just have to represent.”
Deng has built a reputation for himself, impressing crowds with his flashy dunks and leading one of the best basketball teams in the state. He’s not going to just be a kid from Tokio for much longer; in less than a year’s time, he’ll be playing Division 1 football on a national stage.
He’s set an example that Marial’s been able to follow.
“He’s just always working out,” Marial said. “So I just try to follow that and get better, and work hard like him.”
It’s easy to overlook Marial as the second-best Deng on the team, but head coach Rick Smith said Marial has been one of the squad’s most improved players. The main change he’s seen is Marial’s confidence. In Saturday’s win, in which Marial scored 12 points, he opened the game by going straight for a three-point attempt.
“Earlier in the year, he wouldn’t have ever did that,” Smith said. “So his confidence is growing… I really like the way he’s challenging on the defensive end also; his length is uncomparable. When he challenges the shot, you’ve gotta put some arch over him. He’s really coming with leaps and bounds.”
Marial’s style is different from Deng’s — though he’ll still sneak in the occasional dunk, providing at least some proof that they share the same blood. The Dengs complement each other well, with Deng’s muscular athleticism and Marial’s springiness around the court. They’ll often compare notes on who to guard during the course of a game.
“We’ll say what we need to work on and stuff,” Marial said. “And in practice, we usually go up against each other and play together. So we see what we need to work on.”
Deng typically leads the way in a given game, much like he did with his 35 points on Saturday. But Marial has become one of the team’s most valuable secondary options, alongside players like Dalen Leftbear, Wade Nestell and the McKay brothers.
That’s going to be a key for this team with the postseason coming up: gelling together, and not just relying on Deng to carry them.
“We got a bunch of small guards and tall, lanky guards,” Marial said. “So we just be pesky and get up in their grill full-court for the whole game. So speed them up a little bit, make them play out of their game.”
And perhaps when this season is said and done, Marial will be able to carry some of Deng’s influence into his final two years of high school basketball.
“My goal is to go to college,” Marial said. “[Deng] may play a different sport, but just be good, be successful like him.”
For now, the Indians are one of the best basketball teams in the state and will look to do their best in postseason play. With it being Deng’s last year in high school, they have one shot to win a state championship utilizing both Deng brothers.
“We just gotta focus on staying locked in and getting better game after game, practice after practice,” Deng said. “No matter who we play, we just can’t take the gas off our pedal. We just gotta prepare to play our best game almost every single week. I feel like if we do that, we’ll be alright.”
