Pictured (left to right): Dustin Brodina, his parents Larry and Rita Brodina, Parker Brodina
FARGO — Parker Brodina and his dad, Dustin, won a state championship together.
They rode the highs — including Parker’s Senior Athlete of the Year campaign — and the lows — falling on a buzzer beater in a championship rematch with Kindred — as family and competitors.
In Tuesday’s Lions All-Star game, Dustin coached Parker for the final time.
“It’s sad,” Parker said. “I mean, we put a lot of hours in together.”
When Kindred head coach Brad Woehl decided not to coach the All-Stars this year, Dustin jumped at the opportunity. After watching Parker go from a young kid to a college-committed senior, Dustin got to be his coach for one last occasion.
“It’s bittersweet,” Dustin said. “He’s a great competitor, great person, great kid, great teammate. And probably the easiest person to coach. And it’s gonna be sad not coaching him anymore.”
For five days, kids from various schools across the state of North Dakota became teammates. A weekend of practices led to a pair of showcase games, one in Bismarck and the final in Fargo, all put on by the Lions Foundation of North Dakota.
“The Lions do a fantastic job of putting this on. They feed you. They cater you around,” Dustin said. “And you get to spend five days with guys, mostly, that I’ve never met before. So that’s the special part. You get to meet some kids. New friendships were gained this week, and I’m excited about following them and their careers as far as they go. This is kind of just one chapter in their life.”
Parker had his Devils Lake teammate Joel Nelson along for the ride. They were joined by two rivals from Kindred, Karson Ouse and Presley Peraza, along with Grafton’s Kyler Droog, on the A/B roster.
Parker already knew the two Kindred players from AAU basketball. He said that other kids on the A/B team tried to bring up Devils Lake and Kindred’s championship history, but for the guys who actually played in those games, there was more of a silent understanding.
“Us Kindred and Devils Lake, we don’t really talk about it,” Parker said. “Because we know how it feels to lose and stuff. So we just kind of keep it on the low. But everyone else was trying to talk about it.”
The Kindred players’ chance to share the court one last time was taken away after Peraza sustained a concussion. It came during a collision in practice, which seemed trivial at first but became more serious when Peraza appeared light-headed and “a little off,” according to Dustin.
Peraza was still able to join the team on the sideline Tuesday.
“This is just an All-Star game, and he’s got a career ahead of himself, and a life,” Dustin said. “So we want to make sure that we’re not doing anything or pushing him.”
Three of the five starters on Tuesday came from Region 2, with Brodina, Nelson and Droog. Ouse also got the start. After battling each other ruthlessly over the past two seasons, these kids all got to unite towards the same goal.
“It’s fun to be on the same side and work together,” Dustin said. “And knowing that I don’t have to game-plan against them, right?”
As far as the game results went, the A/B squad was a little overmatched this year. A summer after sweeping the Lions All-Star series, the A/B boys dropped two games to a powerful AA squad this time around.
The AA team won 99-76 on Monday in Bismarck, then capped it off with a 110-92 shootout on Tuesday. Hudsen Sheldon and Aric Winczewski each put up 19, and the team showed off with some dunks and flair towards the end.
“They’re some of the best athletes in the state of North Dakota, and they showed it,” Dustin said. “We would have had to play extremely, extremely good to try to beat them guys… They were just better the last two days.”
The mindset for the A/B team was to give it their all and play as hard as possible.
“With all the physicalness and all the athletes that are going to play college basketball, it’s just an opportunity to get better,” Parker said. “Just go out there and play.”
While Parker was held to five points in Monday’s action, he found a rhythm on Tuesday. In the first half, he scored back-to-back baskets as the A/B team desperately tried to stay within a single-digit margin.
The AA team led by as many as 21 in the period. Parker, though, landed a three-pointer with a guard on him right as the shot clock expired. He shook his head in dissatisfaction while many of the fans laughed in disbelief that he’d made the shot.
From there, Parker took off. He scored 12 points in the half, then added 12 more on four triples in the second half. At one point, he hit three consecutive three-pointers for the A/B team, trimming the deficit to 13.
“After I seen that first one fall in, I just kept shooting because I felt good,” Parker said. “And then they kept falling, and I just tried to keep our team going.”
His 24 points were the most on either team.
“He didn’t want to lose,” Dustin said. “So I knew we were gonna get a pretty good performance out of him today.”
Nelson contributed nine points, a day after scoring eight. The 6-foot-6 forward found the rim multiple times and twisted his body in acrobatic ways to get the job done.
It was also Nelson’s last time being coached by Dustin.
“He was a mentor and a leader,” Nelson said. “And he was really helpful to me and taught me a lot.”
The next stop for Nelson is Valley City State University, where he’ll compete on both the basketball and track and field teams.
“I really like doing track just for fun, and I like basketball, of course,” Nelson said. “I want to see both, and do both. It’ll be fun… I just hope to get better every day.”
The tremendously gifted Nelson will get a chance to hone his skills at the NAIA level. His decorated Firebirds career included a state championship, along with all-region and all-state tournament selections.
“That’s a great fit for Joel. Joel is gonna do a fantastic job at Valley City,” Dustin said. “And another thing, he’s gonna work hard. He’s gonna work hard for that coach. He’s gonna give it all he’s got, and hopefully he can find his way into the rotation and have a good career there as well.”
Joel and Parker grew up playing basketball together. They were instrumental parts in all of the Firebirds’ recent success, and they’ve complemented each other as they’ve grown into the players they are now.
“We’ve put a lot of hours in the gym together, just me and him,” Parker said. “The amount of 1v1s and open gyms — we’ve guarded each other, we’ve made each other a lot better. And that’s where it brought us to.”
As each of these kids departs on his own path, Parker’s journey will take him to the University of Mary in Bismarck. He’ll be continuing his basketball career for the Division-II Marauders.
For his dad, it’s been a long time coming.
“I mean, you watch them at third grade, you don’t know what’s gonna happen,” Dustin said. “You progress through them throughout their career. And that’s the fun part about it, to see where they’re at now from where they were.”
College sports can be a different beast in terms of getting playing time. But Dustin is excited about the opportunity for his son.
“I hope he can have some success. I know he’s gonna work hard; I’m not worried about that,” he said. “It’s got a new coach, new teammates, so hopefully it can be a good experience for him the next four years.”
In the meantime, Parker has been spending a lot of time in the gym. He’s been working every day to continue improving as a player.
“I feel ready,” he said. “But there’s still a lot of work to do.”
