It's mid-afternoon on a recent weekday at St. Scholastica's Reif Gymnasium, and Anders Broman is in the middle of a shooting workout that won't finish until he has made 400 shots.
That's nothing unusual for the Lakeview Christian Academy senior, who has spent six days a week for the better part of five seasons honing his shooting in workouts that began in pre-dawn hours at the Duluth YMCA and since have continued in more accommodating daylight at a college gymnasium.
That's in addition to regular team practices and games.
The dedication has paid off for Broman, who is in range of joining a club so exclusive that he will be its only member -- maybe forever. If the Lions win their opening Section 7A playoff game and the 17-year-old Broman reaches his average of 42 points per game, this Saturday he would become the first player in Minnesota boys basketball history to score 5,000 career points.
It likely wouldn't have come about if not for those early mornings at the 'Y.' Anders' father, John, a 1980 Olympic ski jumper, gave his oldest son that incentive in the eighth grade.
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"We noticed that you don't become good shooters at a school practice -- you have to put in the time outside of practice to become a good shooter. That's when I told him, 'If you come get me every morning, I will take you every morning,' " said John, who works in the facilities department at Cirrus Aircraft and generally works late to accommodate long lunch breaks conducting those workouts. "And every morning, without missing for about two years, he woke me up and we would be down at the 'Y' by 10 after 5 or whenever they would open the doors.
"I didn't know how long this would last, but the one thing we tried to instill in him is that this period in life goes by very quickly. You won't have any regrets if you work as hard as you can."
Anders took that to heart, even if it meant going when he didn't feel like it.
"I wanted to prove to my dad that I was a hard-worker," he said. "Those were some rough mornings sometimes."
Now Broman puts his opponents through some rough evenings. Owner of three of the top six single-season scoring records and six of the state's 22 top single-game performances -- Broman's high of 71 is second-most in state annals -- the 6-foot-2 guard's name could sit atop the record book for generations.
According to the unofficial National Federation of High Schools record book, his 4,927 career points rank fourth nationally and are the most since 1980.
But it's not the individual numbers that drive the South Dakota State signee. He's likely more comfortable discussing nuclear fusion or new ways to macramé than his own point totals. His sole mission is to win another section title and return to the Class A state tournament.
That quest begins Thursday when the top-seeded Lions (16-10) face either Wrenshall or Cromwell in a second-round game at Esko.
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"Our first goal is to get to state and if we get to state, we don't want to be satisfied with that," Anders said. "We've been down there before, so we'd like to, hopefully, win a couple games."
Last year's trip ended with a quarterfinal loss to eventual champion Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa. Broman, suffering from pneumonia and influenza, had his worst game of the season.
That just meant more time in the gym, only now he's routinely joined by younger brother Bjorn.
"(YMCA practices) were too early for me, but now I'm into it just like him," said Bjorn, a sophomore. "And in games where you are making your shots, it shows that the hard work is paying off. That makes us just want to get back in the gym and keep getting better."
Ultimately, when his career is done, Anders Broman doesn't care if people remember the final point total. He just wants people to know that he tried his best -- on and off the court.
"I want to prove to everyone that I was the hardest-working player I could be and the best basketball player I could be," he said. "But, more importantly, I want to be remembered as a better person than a basketball player."
* Other section contenders include co-No. 1 seed Bigfork (17-8); a pair of No. 2 teams in Ely (21-4) and Floodwood (21-4); and Saturday's potential quarterfinal opponent, high-scoring Fond du Lac Ojibwe (16-7), whose Trevontae Brown and Devonte Williamson combine to average nearly 55 points per game.
SECTION 7AA
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Esko hopes to ride Deadrick to state tourney berth
Esko's Kory Deadrick has had an excellent season, but coach Mike Devney isn't about to take fashion tips from the junior forward.
Despite a phone call from Deadrick during Sunday's broadcast of Michigan's Big Ten game against Michigan State pleading for Esko to wear the same bright yellow uniforms and footwear as the Wolverines next season, Devney didn't budge.
"We're going to be sticking with royal blue," he said.
As far as on-court decision-making, Devney has no problem allowing Deadrick free reign. The 6-foot-5 Deadrick averages 24 points and 11-plus rebounds a game and has been able to take over games from the inside or outside.
"He has in a couple big games for us -- at Barnum and at Floodwood," Devney said of wins that helped secure a Polar League championship. "He's the first kid I've ever had in all my years to average a double-double."
The Eskomos (22-4) received a No. 2 seed in their subsection. The team went 10-1 against section foes, losing only to No. 1 seed Mora 74-70. With sharpshooting guards Casey Staniger and Marc Peterson (each shooting better than 48 percent from 3-point range) in addition to Deadrick, Esko will be hard to beat.
Other contenders include defending champion Braham, which kept Esko out of the 2012 state tournament due to Tyler Vaughan's once-in-a-lifetime, 53-point performance, Virginia, International Falls and Deer River.
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The Blue Devils (20-6), who closed the season on an 11-game winning streak, still earned the No. 1 seed in the North Subsection despite losing 65-62 to No. 2 International Falls (22-4). That victory gave the Broncos, who have lost just once this calendar year, the Iron Range Conference title.
