FARGO — It’s been 99 years.
Nearly a century ago, the 1925 Devils Lake boys’ basketball team won the state championship. Back then, there was only one class. The NDHSAA had only been keeping records for 12 years. The Firebirds defeated Wahpeton 22-14 — which was considered a pretty typical score for the era.
Eight Devils Lake boys teams had been to a state title game since. They’d lost all eight. The girls won three titles in the 1980s, then were runners-up in 2007 and 2019, before finally breaking through in 2024 with their first championship in 37 years.
The boys were missing out. They hadn’t even been to a title game since 1999.
But they returned on Saturday in the first year of the three-class system. In front of a packed house at the Fargodome, Devils Lake (25-2) earned a gritty 59-54 win over a previously undefeated Kindred team (25-1).
Champions. At last.
“I’m super excited. It’s a little unbelievable,” head coach Dustin Brodina said. “I didn’t think we would be here hoisting the trophy. Obviously that’s your goal, you set them dreams, and dreams don’t always come true, right? I’m proud of this team, these basketball players. They earned it. They worked their butts off all year.”
Wylee Delorme led with 16 points, while Joel Nelson had 15. The Firebirds held off a third-quarter run by Kindred, which was led by two players who stood above 6-foot-7 in Karson Ouse and Riley Sunram. Parker Brodina had eight rebounds for Devils Lake, while Delorme and Drew Hofstad each had seven.
“They’re my family and friends,” Nelson said of his teammates — many of whom have been playing together since their elementary school days. “And we push each other every day in practice. We get up early, and we work out. We play basketball late. And we just go the extra mile.”
Delorme won state tournament MVP for his efforts. He and P. Brodina both made the all-tournament team. After all the hours upon hours in buses, gyms and weight rooms, they got to be recognized in front of the Fargodome faithful on Saturday evening.
“We’ve done everything together,” Delorme said. “That’s what makes us special.”
Ouse got the scoring started after Kindred won the tip-off. But P. Brodina swished a three-pointer on Devils Lake’s first possession. The teams traded stops and misses, before Brodina was fouled from deep and converted all three of his free throws.
Devils Lake led 6-2 at the first media timeout, with 5:07 left in the first quarter.
Delorme was fouled after the timeout, and he made both free throws. Delorme then hit a three, and Nelson floated one around the rim that capped a 13-0 run.
Devils Lake led 13-2. Even more important than its offense was its consistently tight defense that forced constant pressure on Kindred’s ball handlers.
“We tried to stay away from the basket as much as we could,” D. Brodina said. “Don’t let their shooters get hot.”
The Firebirds’ run ended on back-to-back baskets by Presley Peraza. After the hulking 6-foot-7 Riley Sunram made 2-of-4 free throws, Devils Lake’s lead was trimmed to 13-8. The Vikings executed their own pressure and prevented the Firebirds from getting to the rim.
Mason Palmer missed a pair of free throws in front of a giant blue Kindred student section. And it remained 13-8 at the end of the first quarter. Jakob Starcevic got to the rim on the first play of the second quarter to cut the lead to three, but Ouse missed both his free throw attempts after a Beau Brodina foul.
Then Hofstad hit the shot that Devils Lake badly needed. He landed a three to spread the cushion to six. B. Brodina and Nelson made athletic routes to the basket, and the Firebirds were up 20-12 with 5:06 left in the first half.
Nelson found the rim again, then landed Devils Lake’s fourth three-pointer of the game. The Firebirds’ lead was up to 27-15 at the 2:47 mark.
“I didn’t really feel like I was scared, because Coach told us to play with confidence,” Nelson said. “And my team hit big shots, so it helped me relax.”
The Vikings brought it back to 29-24 after two more good routes and a three-pointer by Ouse. Devils Lake had a chance to regroup during a timeout with 34.5 seconds left. On the last play of the half, the Firebirds passed it around before eventually getting it to Delorme, who made a three-pointer while falling backwards onto his butt right before the buzzer.
It was a 32-24 lead at halftime. And the Firebirds were sniffing the warm but distant aroma of victory.
“They trusted the process,” D. Brodina said. “They trusted in each other.”
But the second half didn’t get off to a strong start. Kindred scored the first four points to cut the lead in half. The Vikings grabbed two offensive rebounds after missed threes by Devils Lake. The Firebirds caught a break as Kindred missed a pair of makeable shots at the rim that would have tied it, but they were still in desperate need of a basket.
Peraza put up a shot after a timeout to get Kindred within two. Devils Lake finally scored at the 4:30 mark, on another shot Delorme made while falling on his butt. Kindred still came back to tie it on two straight baskets.
“We realized they were gonna go on a run,” Nelson said. “But we had to calm down and do our game. And we can get it done if we just work together.”
Nelson put the Firebirds back in front. Mason Palmer made a pair of three-pointers down the stretch of the third quarter to lift Devils Lake back to a six-point lead. But the Vikings — as pesky as they are, as a squad that didn’t lose a single game before the championship — responded with five points, including a three-pointer from Stracevic.
“At halftime, I said, ‘They’re gonna come at us and your back’s gonna be against the wall. How are you gonna respond?’” D. Brodina said. “They responded really well when they made that run.”
Delorme made a basket to put Devils Lake up 44-41 at the end of the third quarter. He found the basket again at the start of the fourth quarter, and converted an and-one to make it a four-point lead.
Then P. Brodina showed back up.
He scored five straight for Devils Lake, including the three-pointer that really put a nail in Kindred’s coffin. It was 52-43 with 5:44 left in the game.
“He’s a big-time player. He’s a competitor,” D. Brodina said of his second-oldest son. “He doesn’t want to lose at all, no matter what. I’m proud of him. He’s kind of that leader of this team that carries everybody on his back.”
Peraza made a three that cut the lead back to six. Ouse missed a pair of critical free throws though, and Nelson used his athletic and springy frame to find the basket yet again. Palmer followed up with a ridiculously athletic move, and Devils Lake led 56-48 with just a couple minutes left.
Delorme and Nelson missed a few free throws down the stretch, looking perhaps a little nervous with the clock ticking down towards glory. But the Vikings’ own performance from the free throw line really let them down. They were just 10-of-20, while Devils Lake was only a little better at 9-of-16.
If Kindred had been a more reliable presence at the line, the results could have been very different.
But it wasn’t. And they weren’t. A Vikings triple within the final seconds wasn’t nearly enough to overcome the late-game deficit, which was sealed by a Nelson free throw that locked down the five-point victory for Devils Lake.
“We’re gonna go down in the history books forever,” P. Brodina said.
It’s the second championship the town of Devils Lake has seen in the last few weeks, joining the girls after they ended a 37-year drought. Now the 99-year drought is over for the boys’, and both of the local high school basketball teams are champions.
“You never want to get to 100,” D. Brodina said. “We ended it. It’s great for this town. It’s great for the community. It’s gonna be awesome for this program.”
