By Aberdeen Christian responded to its first loss in nearly six weeks by downing Little Wound 64-45 Monday, Feb. 19 at the Aberdeen Christian School Gym.
It was a strong start for the Knights as they held Little Wound to five points in the first quarter and led 17-5 after eight minutes.
Joey Johnson led the way with a game-high 32 points. Becker Bosma added 14. Luke Kaiser, getting the start for Brooks Jett who was out with an illness, added eight points.
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“This was a game where we really needed to respond, and the boys did,” said Christian head coach Aaron Moeller. “It was another big game for Joey, and I felt like Luke had his best game of the season. It really was a great team effort tonight.”
Christian, 14-5, will wrap up its regular season Friday, Feb. 23 at Groton. Tipoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.
Potter county ends Christian winning streak at 12
Aberdeen Christian led by 11 in the third quarter, but the final eight minutes belonged to Potter County as the Battlers outscored Christian 22-11 to pull away for a 62-52 win Friday, Feb. 16 at the Aberdeen Civic Arena.
The loss ended the Knights winning streak at 12 games.
“They got hot from the floor in the fourth quarter, but I told the guys coming into tonight if we didn’t take care of the ball we’d lose, and we turned it over way too much, and when you turn it over against a good team they’re gonna score,” said Christian head boys coach Aaron Moeller.
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The Knights had chances to extend their three-point lead early in the fourth quarter, but missed some layups. Then, after a Christian turnover, Potter County’s Ryder Falkenhagen hit a three-pointer to give the Battlers a 51-46 lead.
Falkenhagen had a team-high 15 points.
“Looking at the shot chart after the game, I’ll tell you, we missed a lot of easy shots where we didn’t finish around the basket, which we usually do,” Moeller said.
Johnson led the Knights with a game-high 27 points, but was the only Christian player to reach double figures.
“That’s not good,” Moeller said. “Again, we had great opportunities and we just missed some easy shots. We had that 11-point lead in the third and missed on back-to-back layups, and they go down and score on a layup. If we make those, our lead is 15 and could have changed the game, but we just didn’t get the type of offensive production we needed tonight.”
Central splits close games with Roosevelt, Brookings
Aberdeen Central couldn’t hang on in crunch time, dropping a back-and-forth 55-53 battle to Sioux Falls Roosevelt Tuesday, Feb, 20 at Golden Eagles Arena.
The Golden Eagles were down seven after the first, up four at the half and up a point after three quarters, but victory slipped away.
Back-to-back three-pointers by Naser Ismail boosted the Rough Riders in the fourth quarter. Hayden Goff paced Roosevelt with 17 points.
Parker Lemer scored 19 points and Grant Fritz 15 for the Golden Eagles, but nobody else had more than six as Central dropped to 8-11.
The Eagles play at Sioux Falls Jefferson on Friday, Feb. 23 in their regular season finale.
On Friday against Brookings, Central did just enough to earn a 56-50 win over Brookings at Golden Eagles Arena.
Central shot the ball well in the first half, making 10 of 19 shots from the floor for 52%.
Brookings was able to hang around thanks to five shots from behind the three-point line. The Bobcats trailed 27-26 at halftime.
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Fritz scored nine points in limited time due to foul trouble. His driving layup with just over four minutes to play gave the Golden Eagles a five-point lead.
“You know, we didn’t really play our best tonight, but we were able to get over that and make some plays in the end to get the win, and that’s all that matters,” he said. “I’ve gotten a lot more confident scoring. At the beginning of the year, I wasn’t really going for shots that were there, and now I am and that’s working out a little bit for me.”
Brendan Phillips led Central with 13 points. Lemer added 12 points and three steals.
Defense key in Roncalli wins over Ipswich, Deuel
Aberdeen Roncalli wrapped up its regular season with two wins that yielded a 13-7 record.
Roncalli cruised to a 69-42 win over Ipswich at the Warner Classic on Saturday, Feb. 17.
Keegan Stewart led all scorers with a game-high 25 points. Maddox Miller chipped in with 17 points for the Cavaliers.
Roncalli jumped out to a 7-0 lead and led by 10 in the second quarter. Ipswich was able to cut the lead to one, 24-23, with just under four minutes to go before the Cavalier went on a 12-2 run to regain control.
“I was really proud of our guys when they regrouped like that,” Roncalli head coach Dan Gallagher said. “It was one of our more complete games this season. Even though, at times, our defense wasn’t clicking, we were able to respond when it mattered, and we controlled the boards.”
Roncalli held Deuel to single-digit scoring in three quarters to pick up a 46-34 road win Thursday, Feb. 15 in Clear Lake.
Gallagher said containing Cardinals guard Trey Maaland was key to the win.
“Being able to slow Maaland down and make him work to get open looks definitely was big for us tonight, for sure,” Gallagher said. “Brody (Weinmeister) made things difficult for Maaland. Overall, I thought our defense was solid, and we boxed out really well to limit their possessions.”
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Roncalli was led by Stewart with 13 points and Miller who added 10.
“Landon Zikmund came off the bench and scored four points for us, but gave us some big minutes,” Gallagher said. “Caden Shelton has been a spark plug for us now when he comes in, and Jesse Hernandez hit a huge three for us that really gave us the separation we needed in the third quarter.”
Troy Jenson finished with 11 points to lead Deuel.
“Guys are continuing to build confidence. Our defense has come around, and offensively, we have guys who can get going. We lacked some consistency early in the season, but guys have grown into their roles and have played a lot better.”
Roncalli next plays in the Region 1A tournament, but the opponent has yet to be determined.
Monday, Feb, 19
Lane Tietz poured in 29 points to lead Groton to a 71-54 home victory over Dakota Valley, the fourth-ranked team in Class A. Jacob Zak chipped in with 18 points, while Keegan Tracy added 16. Jaxson Wingert scored a game-high 30 points for Dakota Valley, now 15-3. The 14-5 Tigers close the regular season by hosting Aberdeen Christian Friday.
Saturday, Feb. 17
- Highmore/Harrold outscored Warner 13-5 in the fourth quarter to pick up a 46-45 victory. Carson Stephenson led the way with 15 points. Brodey Sauerwein and Drew Bakeberg scored 18 and 14 points respectively for the Monarchs.
- Ryder Johnson poured in 21 points as Groton recorded a 73-50 win against Florence/Henry.
Friday, Feb. 16
- Tietz led three Groton Area players in double figures with 25 points as the Tigers rolled to a 77-35 road win at Britton-Hecla. Tracey added 19 points for Groton, while Ryder Johnson added 10 points.
- A total of 13 players scored for Leola/Frederick as the Titans knocked off Herreid/Selby 75-40. They are 18-1 and wrap up their regular season Friday, Feb. 23 at Ipswich.
Thursday, Feb. 15
- Ipswich got 19 points from Trevor Heinz and a dozen from Jace Konsor as the Tigers downed Potter County 48-34.