MAYVILLE — It’s safe to say these teams know each other.
After splitting their two regular season matchups, No. 4 Devils Lake and No. 3 Four Winds/Minnewaukan squared off in the Region 2 semifinals at Mayville State University on Tuesday. The teams, which are located just across the lake from each other, have been two of the best squads in this year’s restructured Division A.
“Parker, Wylee, Joel, Deng Deng — they all rode together last summer for AAU tournaments,” Devils Lake head coach Dustin Brodina said. “They pretty much know each other by first-name basis. I’m sure they’re Snapchat buddies and all that… They’re enemies on the court, friends off the court.”
In the teams’ previous meeting, the Firebirds got their revenge from a December loss. And it was Devils Lake (21-2, 6-2) that was the most prepared for Tuesday’s matchup, beating FW/M (17-5, 8-2) by a score of 68-58.
“We took care of the basketball, I think was the biggest thing that we were nervous about — that they were gonna pressure us,” Brodina said. “I think we did a good job of not letting them get under our skin with their pressure. Did the best job we could of trying to keep them away from the basket.”
Parker Brodina led Devils Lake with 18 points, while Indians superstar Deng Deng had 31. The Firebirds knew what to expect with Deng, and they guarded him extra forcefully to try to limit his offensive explosion.
“Deng’s a great player; we just had to shut him down,” P. Brodina said. “I mean, we know he’s gonna score 30 every night. We gotta contain him.”
And in the first quarter, they did contain him, limiting him to only one basket. The Firebirds constantly double-teamed him and forced tight defensive stops.
“We were trying to double Deng as much as we could,” D. Brodina said. “But the other thought process is not letting any of those other guys beat us at all.”
The teams went back and forth, and it was 8-8 after an athletic spin move by Drew Hofstad. Dalen Leftbear hit a three to put FW/M back up 11-8. Leftbear was a distant second on the team with nine total points.
Oliver Wirth snuck in back-to-back baskets, sandwiched by Joel Nelson knocking one out of Deng’s hands. Devils Lake was back in front. Nelson missed a three-point attempt, but Wylee Delorme tipped it back in. The Firebirds had four free throws down the stretch of the first quarter, finishing the quarter on a 9-0 run that put them ahead 17-11.
Hofstad and Brodina each landed threes to start the second quarter. The team erupted with cheers and fist pumps as it retreated to the sideline for a quick timeout, up 23-11 after 15 consecutive points.
But it was too early to celebrate just yet. Deng made his second basket of the game and converted an and-one; he followed up with another basket to cut the lead to 23-16.
Delorme made a running basket on a pass from Nelson, but Deng got to the rim two more times to trim the gap down to 26-20. In the first quarter, the Firebirds had been successfully stopping Deng’s drives, but he broke through in the second quarter and single-handedly scored the Indians’ first nine points. With Deng’s strength, and his ability to maneuver around pressure, it’s no wonder the University of North Dakota recruited him as a wide receiver.
“Deng’s gonna get his points. He’s just so dang good,” D. Brodina said. “And it’s hard to keep him off check. We did the best we could.”
Late in the first half, Deng found the rim by simply leaping as high as he could, literally jumping over Devils Lake’s defense to drop the ball in the bucket. It was part of an 8-0 run for FW/M that tied the game at 28 apiece.
So much for that 12-point lead.
“We got kind of sped up a little bit, and we got caught up in maybe some of the calls that weren’t happening for us,” D. Brodina said. “We just need to play basketball and not worry about that other stuff.”
P. Brodina made a basket right before the buzzer, sending Devils Lake to halftime with a narrow 30-28 lead.
“They took it at us, and our defense wasn’t really the greatest,” P. Brodina said. “We just needed to be stronger defensively at that time.”
Delorme swished a three-pointer right away in the second half. He was second on the team with 14 overall points on the night.
Back-to-back Indians baskets made it a one-point game, but Beau Brodina responded with two straight buckets of his own. Deng took two three-point shots that missed wildly, perhaps caught off balance by the intense pressure that was nearly always on him. He still put up six points in the third quarter.
Delorme hit another three, and P. Brodina added a basket to extend the lead back to 44-36. Deng made his lone dunk of the game — a low number by his standards — but Devils Lake had a more versatile attack than FW/M and led 50-40 at the end of the third quarter.
“I was just trying to get to the rim and get my teammates involved,” P. Brodina said.
The teams had an even fourth quarter, with the Indians never pushing their deficit under eight points. Deng had 10 points in the quarter, but Hofstad had seven en route to finishing with 12. P. Brodina’s dunk sealed the deal on the double-digit victory.
“It was kind of like the icing on the cake,” P. Brodina said.
Fans started emptying the crowded stands en masse with 37.9 seconds to go. The FW/M fans could chant “Let’s go Indians!” all they wanted, but even they had to concede that it was over and beat the traffic on the way out.
It’ll be a tough path to the state tournament for FW/M now, whereas Devils Lake is in great shape. Thompson upset No. 2 Grafton in the other semifinal game, so the Indians have to beat the Spoilers to keep their season alive. Devils Lake, meanwhile, gets to play an unranked — albeit pesky — Thompson team to win the region tournament and earn an automatic bid into the state tournament.
“It’s a mini state tournament right here between these four teams,” D. Brodina said. “Thompson’s playing fantastic basketball right now, and they’re gonna be a tough match on Thursday. It’s a survive-and-advance in this region.”
