The Milbank Bulldogs got off the bus a little slow but found their rhythm as they edged the Aberdeen Christian Knights.

Milbank overcame a six-point deficit, eventually opened a first-half lead, and maintained it in a 42-36 non-conference boys’ basketball win Friday night from the Christian School Gym, handing the Knights their first loss of the season.

Even though the two teams are in different classes, it didn’t change the mindset for the Class B Knights.

“When we’re in the locker room, we’re talking and discussing, even in practice, our mindset is always to treat ourselves like we’re the best team on the floor,” said Christian coach Matt Rohrbach. “So, I don’t think that them being Class A or Class B really affects our mindset too much.”

Christian got off to a quick start, scoring the first six points of the contest.

“Yeah, a great start. We’ve started really well so far this year in the first quarter,” said Rohrbach. “I was happy with the guys. They were clearly ready to go and excited to play.”

After the first few minutes though, the home team struggled to produce offensively as the Bulldogs turned it around and eventually built an 11-point halftime advantage.

“I’m interested to see what the film says, because I don’t really have an answer right now as to why we didn’t continue to play well after that hot start,” Rohrbach said. “So, that’ll be something we’ll look at and maybe script practice in a certain way.”

After averaging more than 67 points a game in their first three contests, the Knights managed to put up just 16 points in the opening half against Milbank.

“I think we were all just really surprised, because we’re talking we’ve scored almost 70 in every game this year and to only have 16 points in the first half,” Rohrbach said. “We’re all kind of looking at each other like um, this is kind of crazy. Honestly, I’m happy that that happened in game four and not in game 23 or 24.”

The Knights came out in the second half and quickly sliced the margin down to just four points in the first stages of the third quarter.

“Honestly, in the locker room, the guys were upbeat and we had energy and we were excited. We were just like this is not us, we’re not going to score 16 points again,” said Rohrbach. “We’re going to come out and have a good third quarter.”

Christian held Milbank scoreless for the first four minutes of the second half and by then it was just a two-possession contest.

“Sometimes when you’re down11, you can really kind of kick it into gear right away and I felt like we did that,” said Rohrbach. “I’m proud of the guys and trusting that they understood the situation. They knew they had to come out and play well, and they played a little bit better obviously.”

Christian stayed within striking range, as the two sides traded 3-point field goals to keep the margin at four points heading into the fourth quarter.

“It kind of felt from an energy standpoint, maybe not a gym standpoint, but an energy standpoint that both these teams were treating every single possession like it was the region tournament,” Rohrbach said. “That’s exciting to see from a coaching standpoint.”

After a scoreless two minutes to start the final period, Christian broke the silence with 5:15 left making it a two-point game. After Milbank extended the lead back to four points, Christian made both their free throws for the first time of the night cutting the deficit to 34-32.

The Knights struggled from the line shooting just 33% from the charity stripe.

“The reality is that’s basketball. I think I said it a few times and the guys want it. And they probably want it too much,” said Rohrbach. “Sometimes when you want it too much, you just don’t make shots and that’s just kind of the reality. But the guys will get in the gym, and they’ll make shots and they’ll be OK.”

After Milbank again pushed the margin to four points, Dylan Hofer secured another opportunity to keep the Knights within one possession on a hustle rebound followed by a basket from Brooks Jett.

Hofer ended the night leading the team with three offensive rebounds and seven defensive, totaling 10 on the night.

“That’s the definition of Dylan right there. He makes the impossible possible sometimes, I swear,” Rohrbach said. “It’s hard to believe some of the plays that he makes, but that’s just kind of who he is and so some people look at that like it’s craziness and we’re like, ‘Yup, that’s Dylan.’”

However, that was all the scoring that the Knights could muster as they were held scoreless for the final 90 seconds as the Bulldogs slowly extended their lead from the free-throw line.

Luke Kaiser led a balanced scoring attack with nine points. Jett followed with eight.

Milbank’s Lincoln Holscher led all scorers with 15 points.

Christian, 3-1 on the season, hosts Aberdeen Roncalli on Tuesday night at the Aberdeen Civic Arena.

MILBANK (3-1): Jeter Scoular 2 4-8 8, Sam Rick 1 1-3 3, Ryan Keeton 2 0-0 6, Jack Howard 1 2-4 4, Lincoln Holscher 5 3-4 15, Emmett Snaza 2 2-4 6. Totals 13-37 12-23 42.

ABERDEEN CHRISTIAN (3-1): Jett Johnson 1 0-0 3, Dylan Hofer 3 0-2 6, Grady Jett 2 1-2 6, Luke Kaiser 3 3-4 9, Brooks Jett 4 0-4 8, Loyall Smith-Wade 2 0-0 4. Totals 15-46 4-12 36.

Milbank 13 27 32 42

Aberdeen Christian 10 16 28 36

3-point field goals – Keeton 2, Holscher 2; Johnson, G. Jett. Total fouls – Milbank 8; Aberdeen Christian 16. Turnovers – Aberdeen Christian 13. Rebounds – Milbank 26 (Holscher 10); Aberdeen Christian 35 (Jett 9). Turnovers – Milbank 10; Aberdeen Christian 13. Steals – Milbank 13; Aberdeen Christian 10 (Kaiser 3).