Aberdeen Central fought back from a first-half deficit, built a second-half lead, but came up short late as the Golden Eagles fell 55-53 to fifth-rated Sioux Falls Roosevelt in a non-conference boys’ basketball game Tuesday night at Golden Eagles Arena.

With Central leading 45-44 to start the fourth quarter, both teams traded leads until the score became tied at 51 with 3:39 left. Roosevelt’s Naser Ismail then converted on a free throw with 2:15 remaining before drilling a 3-point basket less than 30 seconds later, giving the visitors a 55-51 advantage.

Central senior Parker Lemer described the back-and-forth final quarter.

“At the end of the game, we kind of fell apart defensive-wise,” Lemer said. “They had a couple of easy buckets, a couple slips, a couple of shots. It’s tough like that.”

Late in the game, Lemer took a steal for a lay-up, cutting the deficit to 55-53 with just under a minute left. After the teams traded possessions and timeouts, the Rough Riders stepped to the line, with a chance to put the game out of reach with six seconds left, but failed to do so.

Central coach Brent Norberg proceeded to draw up one final play to either tie or win the game.

“If he missed, we wanted to get it, and we had three guys, if you get the rebound bring it, if one other guy got it, he was going to outlet it, and then we had one guy that was going to be out here running to the corner,” Norberg said. “We had Camden (Fauth) running the corner and we were either going to try to take it, get a three from Camden, or get to the basket, or find Grant (Fritz) in the post; something fast.”

Although the play worked to near perfection, the final shot attempt from Fauth in the corner just missed as the buzzer sounded.

Norberg was proud of his team’s efforts in the final seconds.

“They executed what we wanted,” Norberg said. “It was about an inch short or it would’ve been the game winner.”

After Central opened the contest with a 6-4 lead, Roosevelt managed to go on a 14-0 run, thanks in part to four consecutive 3-pointers, including three by Hayden Goff, to build an 18-6 lead.

Despite the Golden Eagles ending the quarter on a 5-0 run, the Rough Riders held the momentum heading into the second quarter.

Norberg gave credit to the Roosevelt shooters for making the Golden Eagles pay for their defensive lapses.

“We missed some stuff and we didn’t get to them. They’re good shooters and we missed a couple of things here and there,” Norberg said. “We missed some switches and they made us pay.”

Although they faced a deficit, the Golden Eagles slowly climbed back into the contest in the second period. After Roosevelt took a 24-15 lead, Central finished the half on a 17-4 run to take a 32-28 advantage into the locker room. The run began with a 3-pointer by Jett Carlson and ended with a three by Lemer with seconds remaining in the half.

Lemer, who finished with a pair of 3-pointers and 19 points, gave credit to his teammates for the opportunities he was given throughout the contest.

“I want to thank my teammates a lot,” Lemer said. “We set good screens and at the end of the half Grant (Fritz), give credit to him, he set a great screen, got both of them to go with him and that left me wide open for a three and luckily I was able to knock it down.”

The Golden Eagles began the second half with Lemer’s second 3-point basket to take a 35-28 lead. Central continued to build its lead as Lemer added an old-fashioned 3-point play and another basket during the sequence to help give the home team 42-33 advantage.

However, Roosevelt did not give up, cutting the Golden Eagles lead down to one at the end of the third period, setting up the wild fourth quarter.

Goff led the Rough Riders with 18 points and nine rebounds.

Fritz added 15 points, seven rebounds, and three blocks to the Central total.

Central, now 8-11 on the season, will travel to Sioux Falls Jefferson on Friday for its regular-season finale. Norberg said the Eagles will need to put Tuesday’s game behind them and be prepared to play a similar style of team on Friday.

“It’s like anything else, you get your kids ready to go, you got to move on to the next game,” Norberg said. “They’re very similar to Roosevelt. They want to put pressure on you, they want to go up and down the floor fast, and transition defense will be huge.”

SIOUX FALLS ROOSEVELT (13-6): Naser Ismail 2 2-3 7, Hayden Goff 7 4-8 18, Logan Nielsen 1 0-0 2, Issiah Garang 3 1-1 8, Akeem Moko 2 0-0 4, Memphis Bylander 1 0-0 2, Carson Hoines 2 0-2 4, Tayden Nave 2 0-0 4, Jamre Tiger 2 0-0 6. Totals 22 3-7 55.

ABERDEEN CENTRAL (8-11): Jett Carlson 2 1-2 6, Parker Lemer 7 3-3 19, Camden Fauth 1 0-0 3, Cooper Eisenbiesz 1 0-0 2, Grant Fritz 5 5-7 15, Jacob Weishaar 1 0-0 2, Brendan Phillips 2 1-2 6. Totals 19 10-16 53.

Sioux Falls Roosevelt 18 28 44 55

Aberdeen Central 11 32 45 53

3-point field goals – Goff (4), Tiger (2), Ismail, Garang; Lemer (2), Carlson, Fauth, Phillips. Total fouls – Sioux Falls Roosevelt 21; Aberdeen Central 12. Rebounds – Sioux Falls Roosevelt 28 (Goff 9); Aberdeen Central 32 (Fritz 7). Turnovers – Sioux Falls Roosevelt 13; Aberdeen Central 11. Assists – Sioux Falls Roosevelt 12 (Ismail 2, Goff 2, Garang 2, Bylander 2, Tiger 2); Aberdeen Central 4 (Lemer, Fritz, Colby Dauwen, Phillips). Blocks – Sioux Falls Roosevelt 4 (Hoines 2); Aberdeen Central 3 (Fritz 3). Steals – Sioux Falls Roosevelt 4 (Goff 2); Aberdeen Central 5 (Carlson, Lemer, Fritz, Weishaar, Phillips).