MAYVILLE — Just over 48 hours after the Devils Lake girls’ basketball team won the state tournament, the boys began their own run.
Playing in the toughest region in Division A, the Firebirds were placed as the tough-luck No. 3 seed. So they matched up in the first round on Monday against last-place Carrington, which didn’t win a region game all season. And the result went about as expected, with Devils Lake (20-2, 6-2) beating Carrington (2-21, 0-8) by a score of 100-42 at Mayville State University. It was the most points Devils Lake has scored this season, surpassing its previous high of 89.
“Our goal today was to stay sharp, make sure that we were doing the little things right,” head coach Dustin Brodina said. “Try to be where we needed to be every single play, every possession. And I thought we did a pretty good job of that.”
This was just the start of what the Firebirds hope will be a deep playoff run. The win advanced Devils Lake to a region semifinal matchup with Four Winds/Minnewaukan on Tuesday, which is bound to be a competitive contest. The Firebirds and Indians split their two regular season games.
“We’ve seen enough of each other; we know what each other is gonna do,” Brodina said. “And it’s a team that’s not gonna make mistakes.”
First, the Firebirds had to take care of business against the Cardinals. Carrington won the tip-off and started the scoring with a three by Taylen Mehring. Beau Brodina, who recently tied the single-game school record for three-pointers, responded with a three of his own on Devils Lake’s first possession.
The teams traded baskets to make it 5-5. But the Firebirds took off from there, going on a 7-0 run with Wylee Delorme landing a three. Joshua Bickett swished Carrington’s second three — out of only three field goals — to narrow the gap to 12-8, but the Firebirds flew to a 16-0 run after that.
Delorme made his second three of the quarter, while Parker Brodina had six points and B. Brodina had nine. At the end of the first quarter, Devils Lake’s lead was 34-12 and it was already using its backups.
Kade Fee and Max Palmer had threes off the bench to begin the second quarter. The Firebirds had another large run of 14-0, which ended on Bickett’s second three of the game. Devils Lake was forcing stops at the rim and making the Cardinals have to throw up desperation shots.
Delorme had six more points in the second half, bringing his first-half total to 12. Max and Mason Palmer each had five in the second quarter.
At halftime, the Firebirds elected to stay on the court and practice, rather than retreat to the locker room like most teams usually do.
“The message there was we had another 10 minutes,” Brodina said. “And I felt that there was nothing that I needed to come down to the locker room and tell the guys. So we’re gonna utilize that 10 minutes to get some more shots up.”
Devils Lake continued a relaxed and versatile offensive attack in the third quarter, helped by offensive rebounds. The Firebirds outrebounded the Cardinals 39-20 through the course of the game.
Drew Hofstad put up a pair of threes in an eight-point third quarter. Trason Beck, MarQuis Dubois and Josh Deckert also joined the party off the bench.
“It’s fun for those guys to get some playing time,” Brodina said. “They work hard all year long, and they don’t get to see the floor as much as some of those top guys. They’re skillful kids, good basketball players, too.”
The Firebirds had five threes in the third quarter, including back-to-back shots at the end of the quarter by Brett Mertens. Delorme had four points, finishing with a team-high 16. They went into the fourth with a 90-32 lead — already a season-high point total for Devils Lake.
Max Palmer had eight points in the fourth quarter, fueled by two more three-pointers. He had 15 points on a trio of threes overall. The smaller twin brother of Mason Palmer at only 5-foot-8, Max displayed his identically strong shooting skills.
“He’s crazy,” Brodina said. “Yeah, he’s always ready to go. He’s always got a hot hand, and that’s what I love about him. He’s a confident kid.”
Palmer’s last three — which also happened to be Devils Lake’s final basket of the game — was the shot that put the Firebirds in triple digits.
“That’s not a goal of ours, is to get 100. Our goal is to keep working every possession no matter what, having fun, doing the things that we like to do,” Brodina said. “And hey, if we get up to 100, we get up to 100. It’s fun for the kids to see that, I guess.”
All told, five different Firebirds reached double digits: Delorme, Max Palmer, Mason Palmer, Hofstad and P. Brodina — the latter three of which had 10 each. Delorme and Joel Nelson tied for the most rebounds with five.
The team shot 14-of-25 from three, and 41-of-66 overall.
So it was a luxurious, fundamentals-focused victory for Devils Lake. But this was only the first crack of the iceberg, with a gauntlet of tough opponents in the Firebirds’ future.
They’ll play the Indians at approximately 7 p.m. on Tuesday, March 5, in Mayville. The winner advances to the region final — most likely against Grafton — while the loser plays in the third-place game with a chance to make it to a state qualifier.
