Devils Lake well-represented at North Dakota Lions basketball All-Star games

FARGO — With less than two minutes on the clock, Wylee Delorme flung one up for Deng Deng, who completed the alley-oop with a thundering smash.

It was his last dunk as a basketball player.

“I went out pretty good, so I’m feeling pretty happy,” Deng said. “Being able to have this opportunity is a great way to close out this chapter and my basketball career.”

Delorme and Deng each led one of the best basketball teams in Class A this winter. Delorme was the state tournament MVP on the champion Devils Lake Firebirds, while Deng won Mr. Basketball for the Four Winds/Minnewaukan Indians. The two have played together in AAU tournaments over the years.

“That’s my boy,” Delorme said of Deng. “That’s my day one of my day ones. I’ve known him since I was younger. Me and him have been close, and it was really fun to play together.”

The duo, who were rivals on the court and friends off of it, joined forces with a swarm of talent from around North Dakota to play two final, special games. The exhibition wrapped up at Fargo South High School on Tuesday, after the boys’ and girls’ teams each played games in Bismarck the day prior. Each squad only got a brief window of time to practice and prepare together, forcing the players to come together quickly.

“The hotels, they’ve been fun,” said North Star’s Dane Hagler. “Me, Max [Musland] and Braylon [Baldwin], we were going down the slide for about an hour one night, walking around town and enjoying the time that we have here together.”

It was the AA All-Stars vs. the A/B All-Stars. Both teams were known as the Lions. The A/B teams were led by the state champion coaches from this winter, which meant that Devils Lake’s Dustin Brodina and Justin Klein got a chance to lead some of the best basketball players from around North Dakota. Delorme, Deng and Hagler represented the Lake Region as players on the boys’ team.

“I wish every coach could experience something like this,” Brodina said. “Getting 12 players from all over the state, totally different backgrounds, putting those 12 boys together and learning their different personalities and getting to know them — that’s the best experience. The basketball part is a second nature to learning about these guys and what kind of lives they come from.”

For Brodina, it was the last time on the court with Delorme, a player he’s coached since third grade. Delorme will be continuing his basketball career at the University of Mary.

“It feels awesome,” Brodina said. “It kind of stinks that I’m never gonna be on the same court with him, coaching him… We’ve had some ups and we’ve had some downs, but I just love the kid.”

The experience was satisfactory for Klein, too, who coached the A/B girls’ team alongside May-Port-C-G’s Keenan Konschak. Klein had this opportunity ripped from him in the COVID-19 season. He was selected for the role another year, too, but had other obligations.

This time, he got his chance.

“This was nice to actually do it and see what it’s about,” Klein said. “It’s not always about just the playing of the games; kind of the event in a whole, and also everything that goes along with it and the camaraderie. Some of these kids got to meet some new kids from other parts of the state, and I think that’s important, too.”

The A/B girls met their match, losing in both games. After falling 65-53 in Bismarck, they began Tuesday’s game in a 21-2 hole. They played a better second half, but ultimately dropped the game 83-60.

“Most of them, they’ve all been stars on their teams, and sometimes you need those role players, too,” Klein said. “It’s tough. But we had four practices and two shootarounds, so we got some good time with them. But it just takes time. I mean, hands down, [the AA girls] were better. They had some good players, and we did too, but we just didn’t get shots to fall, and offensively, we were shaky.”

Despite Klein getting to coach, and the Devils Lake girls winning the Class A title, the All-Star team didn’t include any players from the Firebirds.

“It’s an honor,” Klein said. “It would have really been special if I’d had kids playing in it, a player or two or whatever. And we have in the past. But it was a good opportunity.”

The players closest to Devils Lake were Langdon Area/Edmore/Munich’s Cora Badding and Carrington’s Madison Johnson, along with Lake Region State College basketball commit Sydney Schwabe from Thompson.

After the girls’ game wrapped up, the boys came running onto the court and played a physical, high-scoring game that eventually resulted in a 119-99 win for A/B. It was a sweep for the A/B boys, who won 97-81 on Monday with Delorme and Deng leading the scoring.

“Hey, at least we won,” Delorme said with a chuckle. “That’s all I’m gonna remember, is that [Brodina and I] won together. We won a state championship together. And now it’s all memories. Good memories.”

There was so much talent on the floor that it was almost hard to know where to look. Brodina and co-coach Anthony Lee (Westhope/Newburg) rotated their players well and gave everybody a chance to contribute. The spotlight seemed to gravitate from player to player — there were times when Deng was making his signature dunks, or Delorme was going for a big three, or Hagler was on one of his dominant runs.

Deng led the scoring with 17 points, while Delorme and Hagler each had 14. Central Cass’s Cole Holzer put up 16, and Williston Trinity Christian’s Kai Thomas scored 14. The game really had everyone going at the same time.

“You kind of throw some of that out — a little bit of the team aspect — but these guys didn’t have any selfishness at all,” Brodina said. “We had that rule: If you’re open, shoot it. If not, either try to get downhill and score it. If not, pass it to the next guy, and he’ll shoot it. When you don’t have any individualism…it made my job really easy this week.”

The A/B team actually trailed early on, 13-6. The AA team could be heard discussing how to attack Deng in particular — something Brodina was relieved he didn’t have to do this time.

“It’s awesome not having to have a game plan against Deng Deng,” Brodina said. “He’s a great basketball player, but he’s a great individual as well. He’s one of the hardest-working kids I’ve ever seen. We didn’t practice a whole lot, but when he was there, he was working hard — extreme teammate.”

Deng made an ultra-impressive three-pointer under pressure to trim the deficit to 13-9. It prompted one of the AA players to say “That’s crazy” from the bench.

Hagler joined the scoring party shortly thereafter. He put up his first of three triples, helping the A/B team soar ahead with a little less than nine minutes left in the first half.

“The same thing happened yesterday; we were down early but we bounced back right away,” Hagler said. “We shot the three ball really well. Energy was getting brought, and pressing them. All that just bringing all the momentum up, and that led to turnovers, which led to points.”

Like Deng, this was Hagler’s last basketball game. Deng will be playing football at the University of North Dakota, while Hagler will be playing baseball for the University of Jamestown. Hagler is still in the midst of the American Legion Baseball season, too. But the North Star superstar, who scored more than 2,000 points in his high school career, got one final ride on the court.

“It was pretty cool. There’s a lot of really good players here,” Hagler said. “When you play at your high school, you’re kind of ‘that guy’ there, but you get here, and you might be that role player that’s playing defense… A lot of energy. A lot of dunks. Dunks are fun.”

They led 60-49 at halftime, and back-to-back threes from Hagler helped them widen the gap to 77-61. Delorme swished a three in the second half — his second of the game, the first of which tied it up back in the first half.

“We just didn’t come out with as much effort. A little bit of lackluster,” Brodina said. “I told them, ‘Just turn it up a little bit.’ It didn’t take long, and they started kicking it into gear.”

Towards the game’s final minutes, the players started to really show off and let their flashiness shine. Deng, all by himself at the rim, reared up for a windmill dunk shortly before his alley-oop with Delorme.

“It’s just crazy fun to compete, and everyone’s trying their hardest and showcasing their skills,” Deng said. “Being able to represent Four Winds and get these two wins is just amazing for me, and also the Four Winds community.”

After his Indians were eliminated in the highly competitive Region 2 tournament, Deng’s high school athletics career nevertheless came to a satisfying conclusion. After winning Mr. Basketball, he joined track and field for the first time ever and won a Class B high jump title. He was named the North Dakota High School Boys Athlete of the Year.

And, pretty soon, he’ll be a Division I football player.

“All the hard work I’ve been putting in actually paid off in all the sports that I joined, and all the things I did,” Deng said. “I’m just grateful.”

The last points of the night came from Delorme. The clock was running at that point, and in the type of moment you wouldn’t usually see in a regular season or playoff game, all the players let Delorme have the floor. In the contest’s final seconds, they granted Delorme a wide-open dunk, which he more than capitalized on.

It capped the 119-99 victory with triumph, joy and laughter.

And one final time for Delorme and Deng to play basketball together.

“I gave him the oop,” Delorme said with a smirk.