Photo by Noah Clooten
Following Saturday afternoon’s Class A state qualifier games, the seeding was revealed for the eight boys’ basketball teams going to the state tournament in Bismarck.
Devils Lake is the No. 2 seed, behind only Kindred.
Shiloh Christian is seeded third, while Devils Lake’s region foe, Thompson, is No. 4.
The final four is as follows: No. 5 Killdeer, No. 6 Wahpeton, No. 7 Des Lacs-Burlington and No. 8 Beulah.
The top two seeds are the same as last year, when Devils Lake eventually beat Kindred in the state championship game. Kindred was undefeated in the regular season last year — but it notably didn’t have to play Devils Lake before the tournament.
This year, the two foes reunited in the regular season. Kindred spent most of the year ranked No. 1, but the Firebirds had just overtaken the Vikings in the polls after Kindred lost to Moorhead.
Kindred beat Devils Lake 52-47 in Kindred. The Vikings overtook the No. 1 ranking for the rest of the campaign. That remains the Firebirds’ only loss of the year, as they enter the state tournament 22-1 overall and the champions of Region 2. Kindred is 23-1.
Devils Lake’s first matchup is with No. 7-seeded Des Lacs-Burlington. It’ll be the first game of the entire tournament, tipping off at 1 p.m. on Thursday in the Bismarck Event Center.
No. 6 Wahpeton, which beat Four Winds/Minnewaukan in a qualifier game on Saturday, will play No. 3 Shiloh Christian at roughly 2:45 p.m. — with the winner potentially awaiting Devils Lake in the semifinals.
The other pair of quarterfinal games are at 6:30 and 8:15 p.m., with Kindred facing No. 8 Beulah and No. 4 Thompson playing No. 5 Beulah. The Tommies were another Saturday winner; they lost to Devils Lake in the Region 2 championship and then beat Central Cass 58-36 to make it into the field.
It all, once again, sets up Devils Lake to potentially play Kindred in Saturday’s state title game.
The Firebirds are seeking their third ever state championship, and their second in a row after ending a 99-year drought last season in the first year of the three-class system. Kindred’s only state title came in 2021 in Class B; it’s since been a Class B runner-up in 2022 and a Class A runner-up in 2024.
