DEVILS LAKE — The ringing of a new year means the Ramsey County Boys’ Basketball Tournament is back in town.
Devils Lake JV (3-2), the runner-up in last year’s tournament, got the new year started with a commanding win over Benson County (2-2) on Thursday at the Devils Lake Sports Center. The Firebirds beat the Wildcats 75-46, led by Ben Brodina’s 22 points. They made 10 three-pointers as a team. Max Palmer, Will Heilman and Alex Hammond also reached double figures.
“They came out with some defensive intensity,” said Patrick Thomas, head coach of the JV team and assistant coach on the varsity team. “We had a good start with Ben Brodina. We want to always be physical on the court, which is what we tried to do. And offensively, we just moved the ball.”
Devils Lake JV lost only one game last year — which was the Ramsey County championship game against North Star, the eventual state runner-up in Class B.
“I love the Ramsey County,” Thomas said. “We’ve had pretty good success the last couple years; tough North Star team we lost to last year. But it’s good. It gets the guys playing together. It gets a lot of other guys in. And they get to play in front of some good crowds that JV games don’t always happen.”
Paxton Neppl led the Wildcats with 16 points. Colton Green, Holdyn Jacobson and Grant Haagenson each scored eight.
The first quarter was largely the Brodina show. He nabbed a quick steal to start the game and missed the layup, but was fouled and got Devils Lake on the board with a free throw.
After back-to-back threes by Palmer and Brodina, the Firebirds opened up a 7-0 lead. Benson County scored its first points on a bucket by Neppl at 6:14.
“Just want to see him keep stepping up,” Thomas said of Palmer, the now-junior and twin brother of Mason Palmer. “He can fill it up with the best of them, so just make sure he’s consistent. He’s pretty hard on himself, so I want to make sure he stays positive. And fill his role. He’s a scorer. That’s what I want him to do.”
The Wildcats immediately turned it over after a timeout, and a free throw by Kade Fee made the early lead as large as 11-2. Benson County squeezed it back to 13-7 after Haagenson found the rim.
But Brodina hit his second of three triples in the first quarter, which catapulted into a 9-0 run. Benson County responded with its own run of 7-0, but the Firebirds still led by 10 going into the second quarter.
“He’s been getting progressively better as the year’s gone on,” Thomas said of Brodina. “We want him to be a leader. He’s a point guard, so that’s put a lot of stuff on his shoulders to try to anchor us down. And he’s been great defensively and offensively.”
Benson County opened the scoring after the quarter break, but Devils Lake cruised on to a 10-0 run. Brodina landed his fourth three of the game, and Heilman made a triple off the backboard. The Firebirds totaled eight threes in the first half and led 40-24 at halftime.
Brodina put up seven more in the third quarter, including his fifth three-pointer. Talan Gregory added six off the bench as Devils Lake built a 27-point lead.
With the starters sitting, Hammond scored 10 off the bench in the fourth quarter alone. He finished with 12 points total, second to only Brodina.
“Alex has been awesome,” Thomas said. “Didn’t know a lot about him before the year because he’s a freshman, so hadn’t seen much of it. But he’s been awesome all year coming off the bench, playing C squad and JV. I want him to be aggressive, because he can score the ball really well.”
The win advanced the Firebirds to Saturday’s semifinals, where they’ll play the winner of Friday’s Larimore vs. Warwick game. Benson County faces the loser of that game at 3 p.m. on Saturday.
