It was a tale of two halves at the Aberdeen Civic Arena on Friday night.
The Potter County Battlers erased a halftime deficit to come away with a 62-52 non-conference boys’ basketball win over Aberdeen Christian, snapping the Knights’ 12-game winning streak in the process.
Battlers coach Bryce Hall was pleased with the team win.
“They settled in nicely,” Hall said. “The boys have the ability to be creative and to just believe in each other and come together, and it took it to a good team win.”
Knights coach Aaron Moeller contributed the loss to his team’s lack of value of the ball in the second half.
“The difference in the two halves was really just how we valued the ball,” Moeller said. “The first half I felt like we did a good job of really making sure we were playing slow, working the ball around, finding people, and the second half we didn’t do that. We started to rush it a little bit and then we missed some shots that we should’ve hit.”
The Knights led 34-25 at the halftime break after a first half that saw the home team take control early. Christian built a 15-12 first-quarter lead, thanks in part to eight points from Joey Johnson, who controlled the boards and gave Potter County fits with his size below the basket.
“We knew that they were obviously going bring a lot of pressure and they were kind of in a zone, so we knew we could attack the middle,” Johnson said of the Knights’ game plan.
Battlers senior Ryder Falkenhagen said starting slow has been a problem for the team for much of the season.
“We always come out flat. We’ve done that all season,” Falkenhagen said. “We just don’t come out in the first half and that’s something we need to work on.”
The second quarter became a three-point contest as a total of six 3-pointers were traded.
Potter County saw treys by Falkenhagen, Sean Seuer, and Jaxon Krause, while Christian saw a pair of threes from Becker Bosma and one from Jett Johnson.
Hall was glad to see several of his players step up and knock down key shots.
“We just distributed and we just came out more team-oriented, team focused, and shared the ball,” Hall said.
Despite the Battlers efforts, the Knights took the lead into the locker room. However, Potter County was able to rally at halftime and make adjustments that paid off in the second half.
“(Coach Hall) just said move the ball, just keep doing what we’re doing,” Falkenhagen said. “We get open, we get that puncture, we get easy layups, we get some outside shots. We get them to go in and we just run with it.”
And run with it they did. After the Knights opened the second half with a basket to take a 36-25 lead, the Battlers used an aggressive 2-2-1 full-court press to force Aberdeen Christian into key mistakes, several of which led to transition baskets off of steals. The visitors were able to cut the deficit down to one at the end of the third quarter, giving them all the momentum heading into the final period.
“(Potter County) does a great job. They’re well-coached, they run that press extremely well,” Moeller said. “We played right into their hands quite a few times tonight.”
Down, but not out, Christian attempted to make a comeback. Joey Johnson, who nailed a pair of threes late in contest, said the team needed to make good decisions down the stretch.
“We kind of just got flustered and we got to be better when it comes to that,” Johnson said. “We’ve got to make better decisions, and it falls on me as a team captain, keeping our guys in check. We know what we have to do, but we need to stick to the game plan.”
But the night belonged to the Battlers, who closed the door in the fourth quarter by making clutch free throws in the final minute.
“We did a better job attacking, putting the ball on the bounce, getting to the rim, and scoring through contact,” Hall said. “And we got some free throws, so that made a big difference, too.”
Falkenhagen led Potter County with 16 points, while Landon Larson had 15 points, including three 3-pointers. Carter Luikens finished with 10 points, while Chance Smith and Jhett Simon had eight and six, respectively.
The Battlers (12-7) will host Timber Lake in their regular-season finale next Friday. Falkenhagen said the team needs to remember how it played against Christian and apply that to the upcoming games.
“We’ve just got to know that feeling and how it feels to move the ball,” Falkenhagen said. “If we move the ball, we play good, we win games. If we don’t do that, our past few games have shown we don’t win the games. Got to move the ball.”
Joey Johnson led Christian with 27 points, while Brooks Jett had nine and Becker Bosma eight.
The Knights (13-5) will attempt to regroup for Monday’s home contest against Little Wound. Moeller said the team will need to have a short memory as it prepares for that matchup, which is set for 5:15 p.m. at the ACS Gym.
“We’ve got to put this one in the mirror pretty quickly,” Moeller said. “We have a couple of pretty big games coming up. We have Little Wound on Monday and then we have Groton. Those are big games. Little Wound is a game where if we play well, we can win, but if we don’t, they’re a team that gets up and down the court quick, and so we’ve got to be ready for that.”
POTTER COUNTY (12-7): Carter Luikens 3 4-6 10, Ryder Falkenhagen 6 2-2 16, Landon Larson 6 0-0 15, Chance Smith 4 0-0 8, Jhett Simon 3 0-2 7, Jaxon Krause 1 0-0 3, Sean Seurer 1 0-0 3. Totals 24 6-10 62.
ABERDEEN CHRISTIAN (13-5): Becker Bosma 3 0-0 8, Konnar Furman 2 1-1 5, Brooks Jett 4 1-2 9, Joey Johnson 12 1-2 27, Jett Johnson 1 0-0 3. Totals 22 3-5 52.
Potter County 12 25 40 62
Aberdeen Christian 15 34 41 52
3-point field goals – Larson (3), Falkenhagen (2), Simon, Krause, Seurer; Bosma (2), Joey Johnson (2), Jett Johnson. Total fouls – Potter County 4; Aberdeen Christian 11.
