WOLSEY – Aberdeen Christian needed to make two separate comebacks before pulling out a 52-49 overtime victory over Wolsey-Wessington in non-conference boys’ basketball Tuesday night.
It was a night of runs and a rollercoaster of emotions.
“Basketball’s obviously a game of emotions and a game of runs, and it was just super cool to see the guys kind of bond together there,” said Christian coach Matt Rohrbach. “We started out hot and they kind of fought back and took the lead going into halftime. The guys never really doubted that they were going to find a way to win the game and that’s just the credit to them.”
The hot start consisted of a 9-2 lead, with the Knights going 3-for 3 from the 3-point line to start the game. Luke Kaiser opened it up with a 3 from the corner followed by two more from Jett Johnson.
“They really packed it in. It wasn’t necessarily a regular 2-3 zone,” said Rohrbach. “They really just kind of made an emphasis on letting us shoot and that’s just kind of what we did.”
The Knights put up nine points in the first 100 seconds of the game, but slowed down as they managed to score just 12 points over the next 14 minutes of the half. In the meantime, Wolsey-Wessington went on to take the lead, outscoring the Knights 21-12 in that time frame.
“Basketball is such a make and miss game. They made shots and we missed shots, that’s kind of the reality of basketball,” said Rohrbach. “You hope you’re on the right side of making shots, but sometimes, that’s just not the way it is.”
The Knights, who trailed by nine points heading into the fourth quarter, played from behind for the remainder of the game, until 32 seconds left in regulation when Brooks Jett found his older brother Grady Jett in the paint to tie the game up at 45.
“I had a front row seat and I couldn’t believe he threw it because they had that 6-5, 6-6 Sawyer Nelson kind of sitting there in the lane,” said Rohrbach. “and somehow it went over his head and Grady put it in.”
That shot forced overtime, but the momentum flipped as Wolsey-Wessington jumped out to a four-point lead. However, Christian responded and eventually took a lead with 30 seconds left on a driving layup by Kaiser.
“It’s funny. We had all the momentum going into overtime. And then they started overtime like they had all the momentum going into overtime. That’s just credit to (our players),” Rohrbach said. “The guys are a confident group, and they wanted to win that game. We got to overtime and they said that we’re not gonna let this one slip away and we made just enough plays to make that happen, especially Luke’s driving layup there to let us go up one.”
Brooks Jett iced the game with two free throws with 4.6 seconds remaining. The Warbirds missed a game tying 3-pointer at the final buzzer.
Kaiser led the Knights with 16 points. Brooks Jett followed with 11, and Dylan Hofer contributed 10.
Wolsey-Wessington received 15 points from Caleb Richmond, and 12 each from Clay Kahre and Larz Tvedt.
The Knights, 6-1 on the season, will host Gettysburg on Thursday at the Christian School Gym.
ABERDEEN CHRISTIAN (6-1): Jett Johnson 2 0-0 6, Dylan Hofer 4 1-2 10, Grady Jett 3 0-0 6, Luke Kaiser 6 0-0 16, Brooks Jett 4 3-4 11, Charles Eicher 0 3-6 3. Totals 19 7-12 52.
WOLSEY-WESSINGTON (6-4): Caleb Richmond 6 2-2 15, Clay Kahre 4 0-2 12, Jett Kleinsasser 0 2-2 2, Larz Tvedt 4 0-0 12, Sawyer Nelson 1 6-8 8. Totals 15 10-14 49.
Aberdeen Christian 14 21 30 45 52
Wolsey Wessington 8 23 39 45 49
3-point field goals – Johnson 2, Hofer, Kaiser 4; Richmond, Kahre 4, Tvedt 4. . Fouled out – Kleinsasser. Total fouls – Aberdeen Christian 17; Wolsey-Wessington 13. Rebounds – Aberdeen Chistian 31 (B. Jett 12). Turnovers – Aberdeen Christian 13. Assists – Aberdeen Christian 7 (B. Jett 4). Steals – Aberdeen Christian 6 (Hofer 2, G. Jett 2, Kaiser 2). Blocks – Aberdeen Christian 1 (Kaiser).
