AGENCY VILLAGE – A streak came to an end Tuesday night.
Aberdeen Roncalli snapped a five-game losing skid with a 71-37 Northeast Conference boys’ basketball win over Tiospa Zina.
“Going into the game, we knew the most important thing was get the monkey off our back and come away with a win,” said Roncalli coach Dan Gallagher. “But more than that, we wanted to improve on the things that we’ve struggled with at times – forcing turnovers, attacking that paint, getting back to being a transition-based team.”
The Cavaliers pulled away from a 5-4 lead by scoring 20 unanswered points over the final five and a half minutes of the quarter to take a 25-4 advantage.
“In the first quarter, we did just that. Had a great start and we’re on pace to a lot of our first-half goals,” Gallagher said. “We wanted to get up 35 shots and force 14 turnovers in the first half. After the first quarter, we were at 19 shots and 8 turnovers, so we were well on our way.”
A key element in that run was strong shooting from beyond the arc as the Cavaliers had four 3-pointers in the first quarter, two from Jesse Hernandez, and two from Creighton Fisher.
However, that momentum didn’t carry over into the second quarter as the Wambdi outscored Roncalli 16-9.
“In the second quarter, we really started settling for shots on the perimeter and our defensive intensity turned down a little too much,” said Gallagher. “We gave up a lot of dribble drive and forced too many passes that weren’t there, giving them transition opportunities.”
Coming out of half, the Cavaliers put up 22 points in the third quarter to help seal the deal. Bryce Olson scored eight points in the period.
“Second half, we went back to the way we played in the first quarter. We had down-hill attacks, got the ball inside to Bryson, which was a big focus at halftime,” Gallagher said. “And our defense picked it up again, forcing seven turnovers in that quarter after reviewing our rotation rules.”
The Cavaliers were able to get other players minutes in the final quarter. Even though the starters weren’t on the floor, the standard didn’t change as Roncalli still scored 15 points.
“Getting guys valuable minutes is huge. And they recognize the importance of every possession. Sometimes people consider that time to be ‘garbage time,’ but to us, that’s valuable learning time,” said Gallagher. “We’re still coaching in those situations, whether that’s getting our guys an extra two feet in the paint in helpside, so they’re in better position to stop dribble penetration, or ball movement and actions on the offensive end.”
Hernandez led Roncalli with 17 points. Fisher followed with 16, and Olson finished with 11. Aiden Hernandez contributed nine.
The Cavaliers, 3-5 on the campaign, will gear up to take on the third-rated and undefeated Clark-Willow Lake at 8 p.m. Thursday at the Roncalli Gym.
ABERDEEN RONCALLI (3-5): Jesse Hernandez 5 5-8 17, Sam Larson 2 2-2 8, Creighton Fisher 6 3-6 16, Bryson Olson 5 1-2 11, Paul Barr 1 1-2 3, Ezra Feickert 2 0-0 3, Aiden Hernandez 4 0-2 9, Brock Bowman 1 0-0 2, Ryan Schmidt 1 0-0 2. Totals 26 12-22 71.
TIOSPA ZINA (3-7): Jeffery Heminger Jr. 3 1-2 7, Isaac Rodlund 6 0-0 12, Player name not available 3 0-0 6, Ohitika Black Thunder 1 0-2 3, Eric Jens Jr. 1 0-0 2, Devon Bluehorse 3 1-3 7. Totals 17 2-7 37.
Aberdeen Roncalli 25 34 56 71
Tiospa Zina 4 20 29 37
3-point field goals – J. Hernandez 2, Larson 2, Fisher, Feickert, A. Hernandez; Black Thunder, Bluehorse. Fouled out – Black Thunder. Total fouls – Aberdeen Roncalli 12; Tiospa Zina 19.
