Max Palmer (Photos by Noah Clooten)
DEVILS LAKE — After a slew of schedule shakeups, the 2025 Class A Boys’ Shootout got underway Friday, mostly without a hitch.
Three of the 10 scheduled teams were unable to make it to Devils Lake due to extreme winds and difficult road conditions. Four Winds/Minnewaukan, originally set to play Turtle Mountain at 1:30 p.m., saw its opponent change to Valley City at 6:30 p.m.
No. 2 Devils Lake (8-0, 2-0) still got to play its previously scheduled matchup with No. 4 Shiloh Christian (6-3), and the Firebirds took care of business with a 67-39 win. The Indians (5-3) handled Valley City (4-2) with little issue, taking down the Hi-Liners 70-35. Despite the initial schedule complications, it was a successful day for both local squads.
Game 1: No. 4 Shiloh Christian 39, No. 2 Devils Lake 67
It was an imperfect win, yet still a commanding one over a quality team. Parker Brodina led with 20 points, while Mason Palmer had 17. Oliver Wirth and Max Palmer each had 11.
“I was proud of our performance,” Devils Lake head coach Dustin Brodina said. “They came out and zoned us a little bit, kind of threw us off of our offensive rhythm that we had going. But I thought we answered it pretty well. We started out kind of flat.”
For the first time this season, with a ranked opponent on its home court, Devils Lake faced a moment of adversity.
The Firebirds trailed 6-0 to open the game. P. Brodina made a good move to the rim but missed a layup on their first possession. They played solid defense, but failed to score on their first four possessions.
“We didn’t panic,” D. Brodina said. “We knew we’d still get a battle that whole game. Not everything’s gonna go your way. So I wanted that to happen a little bit, and I want that to happen where teams can push us a little bit.”
Mason Palmer finally got Devils Lake on the board at 5:08 with a three-pointer. After Shiloh Christian converted a pair of free throws, Devils Lake swung forward on a 10-0 run. Palmer, having trouble finding an opening in the paint, passed it back to Brodina, who swished his second three.
By the end of the first quarter, Devils Lake led 18-10. It wasn’t a perfect quarter, but it was led by an 11-point explosion from Brodina.
The explosion in the second quarter belonged to Max Palmer. The shorter twin brother of Mason, Max came off the bench and outscored his fellow Palmer. He made three-pointers on three consecutive possessions, giving him 11 points in the quarter alone.
“Max is a lights-out shooter,” Brodina said. “He’s a competitor. So when I put him in there, and the first couple possessions he didn’t shoot the ball, I said, ‘You’re in there to spread them out a little bit and knock them down.’ So he did. He was great to have out there.”
Shiloh Christian took until 4:51 to get on the board in the second quarter. Wirth joined the points column after a nice reaching board by Mason Palmer.
It was still a Max-heavy second quarter. He was second on the team in points at the half with 11, and Devils Lake was up 36-18. Brodina led with 13 points, while Mason Palmer had eight. Max’s outburst helped offset the Firebirds only getting two points from Wirth, Joel Nelson and Trason Beck combined. Nelson got into some foul trouble, collecting three of them in the first half.
Brodina and Mason Palmer stayed steady, scoring seven and five points, respectively, in the third quarter. Shiloh Christian created some looks but struggled to shoot. The Skyhawks landed a pair of threes in the final minute of the third quarter after scoring just seven points in the period beforehand.
Wirth found his rhythm in the fourth quarter. He had three separate highlight-reel type plays, with a reverse layup and the foul, then a two-handed dunk and a three. He scored seven in the fourth quarter and nine total in the second half.
“You can get frustrated; you get a couple fouls early and then you get frustrated,” Brodina said. “And that’s part of being probably 17, 18 years old. They’ve gotta be able to battle that adversity, whether it’s foul trouble or being down. But he’s gotta make sure he keeps battling all the way through, and good things will happen.”
Shiloh Christian made a three with less than two minutes left but still finished with under 40 points.
“I was pretty proud of our defensive effort,” Brodina said. “We only missed a few possessions tonight.”
As of Friday afternoon, the Firebirds are scheduled to play Beulah on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. That’s subject to change, though, depending on Saturday’s weather conditions and which teams are able to make the drive.
Either way, Devils Lake got a solid win to build off of on Friday.
“Just being able to execute when we need it,” Brodina said of the team’s focus for improvement. “When teams are gonna throw different stuff at us, we’ve gotta be able to execute and not rely on three-pointers all the time.”
Game 2: Valley City 35, Four Winds/Minnewaukan 70
The Indians had some fun on Friday.
With 10 players in the scoring column, FW/M built a large lead and never looked back. Marial Deng led with 16 points, but it was a team effort more than anything, with significant contributions from the bench. The team combined for 11 three-pointers.
“This is what we’re capable of doing when we come out with the intensity we did on the defensive side,” FW/M head coach Rick Smith said. “When we get the ball moving, we’ve got good shooters. But the ball’s gotta move.”
The Indians came out with rapid energy. It took Deng all of 30 seconds to score five points, and FW/M had a quick 7-0 lead.
A three got Valley City on the board at 5:42. But the Indians continued to play aggressively and spread the ball, building their lead to 25-8 on the heels of five first-quarter threes.
Ron McKay, in his return from a foot injury, scored seven points off the bench in the first quarter.
“He’s gonna be a big part of our team because he’s such a leader for us,” Smith said. “He’s the leadership that we’ve been missing all year. We knew that when the season started we were gonna lean on him a lot… Finally getting him back, it goes a long way. Because he’s competitive. He wants to win.”
Valley City played closer to FW/M’s pace in the second quarter. But the Indians were still three-happy, collecting seven triples from seven different players. Deng hit one more for good measure, giving FW/M eight total in the first half.”
The Hi-Liners chipped back incrementally. But the Indians still had a 40-26 advantage at halftime.
Deng led with 10 points in the first half, while McKay had just his seven from the first quarter. No other player had more than four, but 10 total Indians got in the points column in the first half.
“What was nice is that everybody that came off the bench, came off with the same intensity that the starters did,” Smith said. “And that’s tough to play against… I was really, really proud of our effort tonight. Our bench was fired up, and we were into it.”
Neither team scored in the second half until nearly two minutes in. But after Valley City made a three, FW/M went on a 12-0 run. Greyson Delorme made two threes off the bench, while Jonte Delorme also added one. Deng dunked. It was all coming up Indians.
G. Delorme made his fourth triple of the game off the bench in the fourth quarter. His 12 points trailed only Deng.
“Greyson is that type of player,” Smith said. “He’s always that way. He’s so good in practice… What makes Greyson go is I need him intense on the defensive end because he’s so long and active. And once he does that, then he gets to stay on the floor… I expect defense first. Offense will come.”
FW/M allowed only nine points in the second half, and just three in the fourth quarter.
“This is how we used to play defense,” said Smith, who’s coached this team for 30-plus years. “Getting in your grill, making you work for everything. Not giving up easy baskets. We gave up a few in the first half, but I thought we really clamped down in the second half, and we got ‘em tired.”
The Indians are still missing players like Dorvan McKay and Sonny Alberts to injuries. But with R. McKay back in the fold and all the active players playing well, they’re on a good track towards success.
“We’ve been juggling and juggling and juggling,” Smith said. “It’s hard to stay consistent that way. But when you bring a defensive effort like we did tonight, it doesn’t matter who’s out. But they have to bring that. Like I told them, I said, ‘You need to be tired. If you’re not tired, you’re not working hard enough.’”
The Indians were originally scheduled to play No. 1 Kindred on Saturday, but their plans are TBA with all the weather complications.
