DEVILS LAKE — Both No. 2 Devils Lake and Four Winds/Minnewaukan finished the Class A Boys’ Shootout with perfect records.
FW/M (6-3, 0-1) beat Turtle Mountain 82-49 on Saturday to go 2-0 on the weekend. The Firebirds (9-0, 2-0) then handled Central Cass 72-45 to finish perfect on their end.
The teams combined to go 4-0 with four blowout victories over the two-day event.
Game 1: Four Winds/Minnewaukan 82, Turtle Mountain 49
The Indians picked up where they left off on Friday. Twelve players reached the scoring column, including seven in the first quarter alone.
“Great energy again,” FW/M head coach Rick Smith said. “Got a lot of kids in. Got to wear them down again.”
Keilan Longie got FW/M started with a three-pointer, and the Indians led 5-4. They went on a 12-0 run from there. Turtle Mountain initially struggled with its long-range shooting, and FW/M found a variety of routes to the rim.
“We did some nice things,” Smith said. “Our pressure was pretty good. We forced a lot of turnovers ourselves. Cut some easy baskets out of it, which always helps your offense when you’re scoring easy baskets off your pressure.”
The Braves hit two triples to cap off the quarter, getting within a 10-point margin. But Jonte Delorme connected on his own three, and Ron McKay added six points off the bench. FW/M led 24-14 at the end of the first quarter.
Smith said he anticipates starting McKay going forward, now that he’s eased back into the action after returning from a foot injury.
“I told him this’ll probably be the last time he’ll be coming off the bench,” Smith said. “The thing about Ron is he attacks all his therapy the way a student-athlete should, because he wants to be on the floor.”
The Indians’ scoring slowed down in the second quarter; they rebounded well but struggled to land their shots. It took Turtle Mountain over two minutes to score in the quarter, though. FW/M went on an 8-0 run with three baskets by Tyler Black Jr. to build a 21-point lead.
McKay led the team with 10 points at the half, in which the Indians led 44-25. But Deng was right behind him with nine, and Black Jr. had eight.
“It really helps when Ron’s in there,” Smith said. “Because Marial had to carry a big load for us the first few games. He’s not used to that yet, because he got to play that third guy last year with Deng [Deng] and Dalen [Leftbear]. And now he’s gotta step up to the plate and be our leader.”
Deng led FW/M in a blowout third quarter. He put up five baskets for 10 points, giving him 19 overall. He was the Indians’ most potent scorer this weekend, but far from the only contributor.
“Marial’s a quiet leader,” Smith said, “where Ron’s a vocal leader… To have two of those leaders out on the floor like that… Leadership’s hard to come by. And when you’ve got Ron out there, it just makes a big, big difference.”
By the end of the quarter, the Indians led by 30, 70-40. Delorme also chipped in with his third three-pointer in as many quarters, and Kashton Keja Jr. scored four.
With the starters sitting and the clock running in the fourth quarter, FW/M outdid its offensive performance from Friday. Dion Jackson hit a pair of threes, and Richard Cavanaugh made a triple. The Indians permitted a 7-0 run from Turtle Mountain but finished off a commanding 82-49 win.
“Our shooters were getting open looks, and that’s what you want,” Smith said. “And so we need to continue to do that, continue to share the ball. Those balanced scorers that we have…those are hard to defend when you’ve got guys like that scoring and chipping in… Overall, I thought it was a good weekend for us. We practice hard… We practice a lot of intensity, and you just want that to start paying off. And so it’s starting to look like we’re taking some steps forward.”
The Indians will play Des-Lacs Burlington on Jan. 24 before diving into the rest of region play with Grafton on Jan. 30 and No. 5 Thompson on Jan. 31.
Game 2: No. 2 Devils Lake 72, Central Cass 45
Devils Lake handled business against an inferior team. Parker Brodina, Mason Palmer, Oliver Wirth and Joel Nelson all reached double figures in the win — though it was slightly closer than Friday’s 67-39 beatdown of No. 4 Shiloh Christian.
“I thought we played a little more down to their level than I anticipated,” Devils Lake head coach Dustin Brodina said. “But overall, I thought it was good. Defensively, we shut them down for the most part… I’m proud of the guys, the day after yesterday; I was kind of nervous because we haven’t played many full games, and playing back-to-back.”
The Firebirds gelled more instantly on Saturday, leading 8-0 out of the gates. Central Cass took until its third possession to even get a clean shot attempt off. Brodina blocked a shot under the rim, and Nelson and Wirth both made layups. Wirth completed an alley-oop, and the Squirrels took a timeout at 4:32.
Central Cass made its first basket out of the break. Threes by Brodina and Mason Palmer helped run the score up to 16-4.
Nelson missed a triple attempt in between a pair of Central Cass layups. But Wirth made another bucket and swished a three of his own, giving him nine in the first quarter.
Devils Lake led 23-10 at the end of the opening period. A three by Palmer and a dunk by Wirth ran it up to 30-10, with a 7-0 run to begin the second quarter. Central Cass scored its first points of the quarter at 5:43.
Nelson made a nice move to the rim but missed the layup. He expressed frustration with himself, and the Firebirds held a timeout. There was 1:24 left in the half.
After the team talked things over, Nelson grabbed a steal almost immediately and successfully converted a layup.
“Joel’s so dang hard on himself, and that’s exactly why I called the timeout,” Brodina said. “I said, ‘Don’t be so hard on yourself. You’re just playing basketball, right? And I don’t demand perfection,’ I told him, ‘I demand a perfect effort. ‘Just keep working hard, and good things will happen.’”
Max Palmer capped the half with a three-pointer, complementing his brother’s two triples. Devils Lake had a 41-21 advantage at halftime, getting 11 from Wirth, 10 from Mason Palmer and nine from Brodina. The Firebirds combined for seven threes in the first half. Three of them came from the hands of Brodina.
Trason Beck fueled Devils Lake in the third quarter. He made a reverse layup and converted a pair of and-ones, scoring eight points to extend the lead to as many as 35. Each Palmer made another three-pointer, and Brodina and Nelson each added four.
“Tray stepped up a lot,” Brodina said. “He made it a point to get in there and get some of them offensive rebounds… He’s really worked hard. And I’m proud of him, because he’s a great role player.”
Fausten Olson made his third bucket of the game in the fourth quarter, putting one in after three Devils Lake rebounds. Gavin Wolf added a three as Devils Lake wrapped up a 27-point victory. Central Cass finished the game on a 6-0 run.
“I don’t think we showed our dominance,” Brodina said. “And maintain that dominance throughout the whole game. Just maintaining that physicality, that we can play more physical. And I thought we kind of went through the motions a little bit. But overall, I’m still proud of the guys.”
Devils Lake looks to keep its undefeated record alive this week against Grafton and No. 5 Thompson, both formidable region opponents who gave them some trouble last year. Devils Lake hosts Grafton on Jan. 21 and Thompson on Jan. 24.
“It’s gonna be tough. We’re gonna have to play really well to win,” Brodina said. “They’re gonna stretch the floor, and they’re gonna shoot the ball well.”