No. 2 Devils Lake takes down Four Winds/Minnewaukan 74-35 at home

DEVILS LAKE — The Firebirds are in it to win it again.

Four Winds/Minnewaukan came to town on Monday for its first meeting with Devils Lake since getting eliminated by the Firebirds in the Region 2 tournament last March. The two local teams — one from each vertical side of the lake — faced off in front of a raucous Devils Lake Sports Center.

“This is awesome,” Firebirds head coach Dustin Brodina said. “Me and Rick [Smith, FW/M’s head coach] were talking before the game; the stands are packed. We have to pull up the top bleachers. It’s pretty awesome. It’s like a state tournament, almost, atmosphere in here… It’s fun for basketball in North Dakota.”

Devils Lake (5-0, 2-0), ranked No. 2 in Class A, wasted little time displaying its dominance. An 18-0 run in the first quarter led to a 74-35 beatdown of the Indians (3-3, 0-1). Devils Lake’s lead was already in the 30s by halftime.

For the three quarters that the starters were in there, Oliver Wirth led with 19 points, while Parker Brodina had 18. Wirth hit five of the team’s 10 threes. Trason Beck also reached double digits with 11 points, while Mason Palmer had 10 and Joel Nelson had eight.

“I think it’s just that unselfishness that defines us best,” Wirth said. “I feel like it’s hard to guard us because we’re all so versatile. We can all shoot. We can all pass. We can all drive. And it’s just the teamwork that feeds off each other. It’s not me; it’s we. That’s kind of our philosophy.”

FW/M won the tip-off, and Marial Deng struck first to put the Indians up 2-0. Nelson responded by getting down the court and making an off-balance shot under pressure.

Devils Lake trailed 4-2 after a basket by Tyler Black Jr. The Firebirds wound up keeping FW/M off the board for most of the rest of the quarter. Wirth hit a go-ahead three, and Palmer backed him up with another triple.

“We just wanted to be solid defensively,” Brodina said. “Keep them away from the basket as much as we could, and not let them get downhill on us… I thought we did a really good job of that, just keeping their offense away from the basket.”

Down 8-4, the Indians took a timeout to try to stop things from getting out of control. But the Firebirds just didn’t relinquish their attack. After the teams traded turnovers, Palmer flung one up for Wirth, who completed the alley-oop. Defensively, Devils Lake’s pressure made things a nightmare for the Indians, who struggled to find an open look.

“I think it honestly starts off the court,” Wirth said. “I’d say we’re all best friends. So it’s just team bonding, the lifts and stuff, the 6 a.m.s. It all pays off in the end.”

The Firebirds even forced a shot-clock violation at one point, with the Indians flinging up a desperation attempt as the clock ran out and the Devils Lake bench rose in triumph.

The run grew the Firebirds’ lead all the way to 20-4. It finally ended on a shot by Richard Cavanaugh. Devils Lake still went to the quarter break with an utterly dominant 24-6 lead.

The Indians played better to start the second quarter, ever so slightly chipping their deficit to 31-14. Kashton Keja Jr. opened the quarter with a steal that led to a Dorvan McKay layup.

Brodina and Palmer both hit threes — the second for each of them — to build the lead to 36-15. Wirth hit his third triple to help run it up to 43-15.

“Our guys are finding him, and he’s letting the game come to him,” D. Brodina said of Wirth. “He’s having fun with it. He works hard in practice every day, and I’m glad to see some success for him.”

Brodina nabbed a steal and finished the play with a layup, and Palmer drove down the court and passed it to Brodina for Devils Lake’s 50th point. The Firebirds were working on all cylinders, much like how they did throughout their championship season. They led 51-17 at halftime.

“Everybody can put the ball in the hole,” D. Brodina said. “And if we share it, give it to the next guy, that’s really the confidence level moving forward.”

FW/M had the ball first to start the second half, but couldn’t capitalize. Beck got down the court and made a layup, prompting the Indians to take a very abrupt timeout.

Beck had a reverse layup after the break. He put up six points in the third quarter to get him to double digits. Beck, who was on the JV team last year, has filled in nicely as the squad’s fifth man.

“Trason’s fantastic,” Brodina said. “He’s accepted his role as doing all the little things right. And he’s doing a great job getting offensive rebounds, and he can get put-backs all day. He’s one of our strongest guys and can play defense. That’s what we need. We’ve got some guys that can put the ball in the hole a little bit better, and we need those role players to fill in.”

Deng swished a three for FW/M’s first points of the second half, nearly midway through the third quarter. Brodina and Palmer both missed three-point attempts, but Brodina ran in for the put-back. The shot ignited a 9-0 run.

Wirth made two more threes in the third quarter. He finished with five of them and just short of 20 points overall.

“I was pretty nervous before the game,” Wirth said. “I made my first one, so that kind of helps. Making your first shot right away. And then after that, I just let ‘em fly.”

Wirth, remember, wasn’t even a starter on last year’s packed championship team. He and Palmer, two key contributors to last year’s squad, have been granted guaranteed starting spots this season.

“Last year I was kind of a role player. We had Wylee, Drew, Beau; I love those guys. So last year we were really tough too,” Wirth said. “But right now, I’m just trying to feed off my teammates. And honestly, I like passing more than scoring.”

Devils Lake ran the score up to 69-22 and started mixing its backups in. But with a new cast of characters, the Firebirds allowed eight rapid-fire points, all by Jonte Delorme. The last three came on a buzzer beater from nearly halfcourt.

“We put some guys in there, and they lost some focus,” Brodina said. “We have some non-negotiables on our team that we play defense and we don’t lollygag around. And I thought those guys that were in there for that three, four minutes, they lollygagged around. And that’s what happens. You have a great Four Winds team. If you take the foot off the gas pedal, they’re gonna put eight points on the board in 30 seconds. So they’ve just gotta make sure that they’re always ready to go.”

Players like Talan Gregory, Ben Brodina, Gavin Wolf, Marquese Dubois and Hunter Remmick got the lion’s share of the playing time in the fourth quarter. It was an uneventful finish with a running clock all the way. Greyson Delorme made a three off the bench for FW/M.

In the end, Devils Lake won by 39.

Two region games down, and two wins in the books.

“Head down. Keep working,” Wirth said. “Don’t get too cocky. Don’t get too ahead of yourself. I mean, we’re one of the better teams in the state. So definitely just one game at a time. One day at a time. That’s our mindset.”

The Firebirds’ next few games are non-region contests. Their Region 2 schedule resumes on Jan. 21 at home against No. 3 Grafton.

“This is a great team,” Brodina said. “We had a great team last year, and I don’t want to take anything away from that, but these guys really have accepted that team role. Not one guy any better than the next.”