Castlewood is used to being on the big stage and it showed Thursday afternoon at Wachs Arena.

Playing in the same venue for the first time since they won last year’s State B championship, the Warriors dug out of a hole and turned back a stubborn Aberdeen Christian squad 53-50 in the opening round of this year’s boys’ basketball tournament.

Trailing by seven heading to intermission, the Warriors had a goal at halftime.

“We’ve been down before so we came back,” said Castlewood junior Kamden Keszler. “We knew what we had to do. We had to win the first three minutes. That’s what we did.”

The Warriors quickly got back into the game and the contest was tied heading into the final period.

That’s when the defending state champs appeared to take control, going on a 12-2 run to open a 50-40 cushion with 3:31 left.

“We just didn’t get enough shots to go there in the third quarter when we really had a chance to … expand on a lead that we earned. Sometimes that’s basketball,” said Christian coach Matt Rohrbach. “You don’t get the shots to go or they hopped into that zone obviously and it gave us a little bit of fits. Credit to them. They played a really good ball game and Keszler was incredible.”

Keszler repeatedly beat his defender off the dribble, attacked the rim, and finished with a variety of moves.

“I was feeling myself. It started in the first quarter,” Keszler said. “I was doing some lefthanded stuff that I hadn’t done in a while, so I was feeling it, and it just ended up being good.”

The Knights never found an answer for the point guard, who finished with a game-high 30 points.

“He’s put on some muscle this year and he’s hard to guard to keep from going to the basket,” said Castlewood coach Paul Raasch. “He hit a couple of 3s which helps, because you got to come out and get him. … We needed everything from him too to beat a good team.”

Christian never went away and soon had clawed back into the game. The Knights inched closer and closer as Castlewood missed three throws down the stretch. Christian eventually cut the deficit down to a single point on a basket by Luke Kaiser with 12 seconds left.

Brody Bass made two free throws with 9.7 seconds remaining and a Dylan Hofer 3-point attempt was off the mark in the final seconds.

“Great look. We trust Dylan Hofer to take that shot any day of the week and that just didn’t go,” Rohrbach said. “Nobody on the team was mad that he got to take the shot. He’s an incredible player and we love him.”

When the final horn sounded, Raasch was able to exhale as he team captured a hard-fought victory.

“That last shot he took, I thought maybe it was gonna go down. We didn’t want to go to overtime,” Raasch said. “We burned up a lot of steam to come back and thought we had it in control, but give them credit. They hit some shots and we missed a couple free throws for them to help them out. When two good teams lock horns like that, you expect runs like that.”

Christian was able to build a lead and first-half momentum when senior Jett Johnson caught fire from the perimeter, nailing a trio of 3-pointers.

“It felt pretty insane. I don’t even know what went into me,” Johnson said. “I don’t know how deep those 3’s were, but I felt like Steph Curry.”

The long-range shooting ignited a strong Christian fanbase.

“It was insane,” Johnson said. “It was just awesome. Praise God.”

In the end though, the perimeter shots dried up as the Knights did not make a single three-point attempt in the second half, in part because of Castlewood’s 1-3-1 zone defense.

“We maybe didn’t get the ones that we love or necessarily wanted there in that second half,” Rohrbach said. “I think that’s mostly due to them. They were flying around and we weren’t really getting to the rim, so they were extending it even more every single possession.”

And of course, Keszler was a force all game, scoring 10 fourth-quarter points to help power the Warriors back into the semifinal round.

“I tip my hat to him. He’s a stud,” Johnson said. “He’s the best guard in the state. He’s legit.”

Kaiser led the Knights with 11 points. Brooks Jett followed with 10, and Johnson finished with nine.

Christian, 20-4, takes on Viborg-Hurley in consolation action at 11 this morning.

“We’ll bounce back. These are great kids,” Rohrbach said. “They’re frustrated, but they still want to play two more games.”

Castlewood, 21-3, takes on Lyman at 5 this evening in the semifinals. The Raiders knocked off the top-seeded team to start the tournament.

“They’re a tough team. They’re playing with a lot of confidence,” Keszler said, “but we’re going to come out there and we’re gonna play defense, and we’re going to do what we got to do.”

Raasch is not about to take the eighth-seeded Raiders lightly.

“There’s no favorites or underdogs in this tournament. There just isn’t,” Raasch said. “The seeds don’t mean anything. Every team in here is good.”

CASTLEWOOD (21-3): Kamden Keszler 12 2-8 30, Brody Bass 2 2-2 8, Tyson Manley 1 0-0 2, Leonard Wernke 2 0-0 4, Will Aderhold 2 2-2 6, Trevor Everson 0 3-4 3. Totals 19-40 9-18 53.

ABERDEEN CHRISTIAN (20-4): Jett Johnson 3 0-0 9, Dylan Hofer 3 0-1 6, Grady Jett 3 2-2 8, Luke Kaiser 4 3-3 11, Brooks Jett 4 0-0 10, Loyall Smith-Wade 3 0-0 6. Totals 20-50 5-6 50.

Castlewood 10 23 38 53

Aberdeen Christian 12 30 38 50

3-point field goals – Keszler 4, Bass 2; Johnson 3, B. Jett 2. Total fouls – Castlewood 11; Aberdeen Christian 13. Rebounds – Castlewood 26 (Wernke 8); Aberdeen Christian 28 (Kaiser 6, B. Jett 6). Turnovers – Castlewood 13; Aberdeen Christian 17. Assists – Castlewood 8 (Wernke 3, Everson 3); Aberdeen Christian 9 (Kaiser 3). Blocked shots – Castlewood 3 (Wernke 2); Aberdeen Christian 4 (B. Jett 3). Steals – Castlewood 8 (Keszler 3, Wernke 3); Aberdeen Christian 7 (Hofer 3).