Photos by Noah Clooten
DEVILS LAKE — Parker Brodina knew he was 12 away.
He and his dad, head coach Dustin Brodina, wanted to get it out of the way. So they ran some specific sets to start Thursday’s game, giving Parker a chance to reach the highly coveted 1,000-points milestone.
It took him four minutes and 35 seconds.
“I tried just not to think about it,” P. Brodina said. “My dad didn’t even tell me until the day before. So I just wasn’t thinking about it, and just went out there and played my game.”
It was a three-pointer that locked down the milestone, giving Brodina 14 points at the time and 16 overall in the first quarter. He reached the threshold that every young basketball player dreams about as a kid — leading to Devils Lake’s (6-0, 2-0) 83-39 thrashing of Turtle Mountain (2-8) at the Devils Lake Sports Center.
“The special thing about Parker is he couldn’t care less about records and getting his points,” D. Brodina said. “But yeah, at the same token, he’s worked really hard for it. He’s spent a lot of time in the gym. He’s one of our greatest leaders I think we’ll ever have in this program.”
Brodina led the team with 25 points. Mason Palmer put up 14, Oliver Wirth scored 13 and Joel Nelson had 12.
“It’s pretty special when we’re clicking on all cylinders,” D. Brodina said.
Devils Lake started with the ball and took just a few seconds to start the scoring, as Palmer passed it down to Wirth for the layup. Brodina got a rebound of a Nelson shot and put the Firebirds up 4-0.
Turtle Mountain responded with a Wes Davis triple. But Devils Lake got a boost from a 10-0 run, which included a three and a running layup by Brodina.
The Firebirds ended up with a 19-3 stretch to take a 23-6 lead. Roughly midway through the first quarter, Brodina had already reached a double-digit point total. At 3:25, he landed his second three-pointer — giving him the coveted 1,000 points, and calling for a brief break in the action.
“He’s been around the block a little bit,” D. Brodina said. “He’s a leader. He doesn’t have to score a lot. But when we need it, he can go. He can score at any time.”
Wirth capped the run with a dunk.
Devils Lake had a slightly sluggish end to the quarter, giving up six straight points. D. Brodina unloaded his bench to give his starters a few minutes to rest.
At the first quarter break, Devils Lake led 25-12.
“If we keep sharing the ball at a high level, we can score a lot of points,” P. Brodina said. “But we’ve gotta be better defensively, because we let up a couple offensive rebounds.”
The starters returned a few moments into the second quarter. They got things rolling with a 9-0 run, topped by Wirth’s second dunk. Turtle Mountain didn’t score in the second quarter until nearly three minutes of game time had gone by.
With the lead as tight as 18 points, Devils Lake cruised to another run of 12-0. Wirth made a put-back on his own shot, and Palmer and Nelson both made nice moves to the rim. Brodina converted a reverse layup and the resulting and-one to help build a 49-19 advantage.
At the halftime break, it was 49-21.
“We’ve gotta shore up some defensive stuff,” D. Brodina said. “That first half, we gave up seven offensive rebounds. And that’s one of our goals, is no offensive rebounds. And we gave up some middle drives. So we’ve gotta work down that. By the end of the season, we don’t want any of that.”
The Firebirds scored the first nine points of the second half, not allowing a score against them until 4:52 in the third quarter. After a turnover, Wirth slammed his third dunk, then made a three off the backboard to make it 58-21.
Nelson had a put-back on a missed three attempt by Brodina. Brodina’s scoring slowed down, not getting in the points column in the second half until around midway through the third quarter. He still had four points in the period to give him 25 for the game.
Nelson, running in, also made a one-handed dunk and the resulting and-one. He led the Firebirds with seven points in the quarter, giving him 12 overall.
Trason Beck fouled out with 1:43 left in the period. Bryar Exner got in the scoring column, and the Firebirds went into the fourth quarter riding a 6-0 run.
Their starters, who were already being used more sparingly, completely sat out the fourth quarter. Marquese Dubois scored four points off the bench, while Ben Brodina had three.
The luxurious win, which kept Devils Lake undefeated, came ahead of a Monday meeting with Rugby on the road. The Firebirds return home for the Class A Shootout this Friday and Saturday; they’ll play Shiloh Christian and Beulah, respectively.
