AGENCY VILLAGE – Aberdeen Roncalli weathered the storm Tuesday night, but the Cavaliers stormed past Tiospa Zina.
Roncalli exploded for 28 points in the fourth quarter to rally for a 64-54 Northeast Conference boys’ basketball victory.
“That’s a heckuva response by the whole team. Even going into that fourth quarter we were still down,” said Roncalli coach Dan Gallagher. “We knew we were in it, but to battle the way we did, those guys came up big.”
Gallagher noted the offensive efforts of Maddox Miller, Keegan Stewart and Aiden Fisher down the stretch, and also the major contribution from Brody Weinmeister as Roncalli outscored the Wambdi 28-15 in the final period.
“I thought Brody gave us a huge boost as far as his defense and being able to run the floor and get some possessions for us offensively,” Gallagher said. “It was just kudos to their effort and their relentlessness there.”
The Cavaliers trailed by as many as 10 points at one stage as Tiospa Zina’s Carven Fish gave Roncalli problems in the opening half.
“Carven Fish is a monster inside,” Gallagher said. “We were struggling with him in the first half.”
The Cavaliers focused their attention on keeping the ball out of the post in the second half and Weinmeister played a key role defensively.
“Brody was able to come in and force a lot of turnovers,” Gallagher said. “We were able to get them to play a little bit hectic.”
Roncalli was also able to play the game more on its terms in the second half to keep things close before the final offensive burst.
“Our guys knew that the first half wasn’t our style of basketball. It wasn’t what we needed to do. We kind of let them dictate 1, the pace and 2, the intensity that we were playing with, and we just responded in that second half,” Gallagher said. “We knew it was as a one possession game at a time. We weren’t going to be able to make up eight points in that first possession of the second half. But one stop at a time, one bucket at a time will put us back in there.”
Miller scored a game-high 27 points (including 12 in the fourth quarter) to pace the Cavaliers. Fisher followed with 13 and Stewart contributed 10. Weinmeister and Parker Grieben each added seven.
Fish powered Tiospa Zina with 20 points, and Storm Sierra finished with 11.
Roncalli, 9-5, has now won seven of its last eight games. The Cavaliers will look to keep things going when they host Milbank on Friday night at Roncalli Gym.
“We’re starting to get shots. We’re starting to find a rhythm as a team, but we got to play it more consistently. That’s the biggest thing. We don’t want to be peaked right now. We want to still build that consistency, still find ways to get those guys some good shots, but what’s nice is and what’s coming together is we’re finding our groove on defense, too.”
ABERDEEN RONCALLI (9-5): Maddox Miller 10 2-4 27, Keegan Stewart 4 0-0 10, Aiden Fisher 5 2-4 13, Parker Grieben 3 1-2 7, Brody Weinmeister 2 2-2 7. Totals 22 7-12 64.
TIOSPA ZINA (7-6): Johny Rivers 2 1-2 6, Nathaniel Thompson 3 0-0 9, Carvin Fish 9 2-2 20, Tate Never Misses A Shot 1 0-0 2, Storm Sierra 4 2-2 11, Ashden Sierra 3 0-0 6. Totals 22 5-5 54.
Aberdeen Roncalli 10 18 36 64
Tiospa Zina 12 26 39 54
3-point field goals – Miller (5), Stewart (2), Fisher, Weinmeister; Rivers, Thompson (3), S. Sierra. Total fouls – Aberdeen Roncalli 7; Tiospa Zina 13.
