Aberdeen Christian had a game plan, but De Smet had a solution Saturday afternoon at Wachs Arena.

The Knights were going to let De Smet’s Slayten Wilkinson take as many shots as he wanted and the senior guard took advantage of it, scoring 18 points to lead the Bulldogs to the consolation championship with a 56-45 win in the fifth place game of the State B Boys’ Basketball Tournament.

Christian was determined to not let 6-foot-10 Grant Wilkinson beat them, so they decided to leave one player unguarded and that was Slayten Wilkinson.

“They probably watched film,” the guard said, “because I have not been performing well the last four games at all.”

Christian gave the 6-2 Wilkinson, known for his defense, the option to take literally whatever shot he wanted.

“It’s kind of embarrassing,” Wilkinson said, “because they know I’m not the greatest.”

It soon became obvious that the strategy was going to backfire though, because Wilkinson stepped up and made one open shot after another.

“There’s a little more pressure on you when they’re not guarding you,” Wilkinson said, “I’m not going to lie.”

Christian coach Matt Rohrbach had no problem with the game plan, and credited Wilkinson for making shots.

“No regrets. I was super happy with how we executed that, in essentially a white board scouting report,” Rohrbach said. “Credit to the kid. He made shots when he needed to, and congratulations. They’re a good ball club and they play good defense.”

The special defense was not foreign to the Bulldogs. It has happened on numerous occasions, and not always with the same player.

“It’s not the first time we’ve had that happen. Different guys, it kind of rotates some nights, and it takes them a while to say, hey, nobody’s guarding me, what do I take here, what do I do?” said De Smet coach Jeff Gruenhagen. “A few get sped up, a few don’t, but kind of stay with it.”

Gruenhagen understands how the lack of defensive pressure can get inside a player’s head.

“There’s no reason to not make that shot, because nobody’s guarding you right?” Gruenhagen said. “You get to pick your shot, you get to pick what you’re doing.”

The outcome was still very much in doubt midway through the final quarter. The Bulldogs led 42-41 before Wilkinson scored his last three points on a 3-pointer with 5:19 left.

Christian then had numerous chances to cut into the De Smet lead, but the Knights managed just four more points the remainder of the contest.

“We just didn’t really execute at the end,” said Christian’s Brooks Jett. “It just really hurt us.”

De Smet’s defense obviously had something to do with that, using its size inside to prevent any easy opportunities.

“We did good defensively. I think man-to-man the first half was good. We were trying to get to the second half for zone, and tried it and then we just didn’t rebound well in the zone,” Gruenhagen said. “They came down and got some more boards. I thought it was a great effort by everybody of knowing where shooters were and where guys were, and really adjusting.”

For the third straight day, the Knights had a difficult time scoring down the stretch.

“Kind of the story a little bit actually of all three games,” Rohrbach said.

Noah Luethmers added 11 points to the De Smet total, while Carter Wilkinson followed with 10, and Grant Wilkinson contributed nine points and 13 rebounds.

The Bulldogs, who lost to Wall in the opening round, were determined to finish the tournament strong.

“On Thursday, that’s kind of where we decided and we left it at that,” Gruenhagen said. “The last day, wherever we’re at, we want to end on a win. Let’s go on Friday and get to work, and then Saturday we want to walk out and have that in our head for the next season.”

Jett led the Knights with 19 points and 15 rebounds, and Luke Kaiser was right behind with 18 points and 11 rebounds.

Christian will lose three key seniors to graduation, starters Jett Johnson and Grady Jett, and a top reserve in Raymond Rodriguez-Martinez.

“Obviously, losing seniors hurts, because Jett’s a good shooter, Grady a good defender, but Charlie (Eichler) and Loyall (Smith-Wade) I think will be good,” Brooks Jett said. “We’re obviously coming for it all next year. We want to get better.”

While disappointed in the outcome of the final game of the season, the junior still was happy to be playing in his second straight state tournament.

“We’re happy to be here. Obviously, the goal is to be at the night games, but we’re still here,” Jett said. “I’m happy that our seniors got to go out at state, and not a playoff loss before state.”

Rohrbach was proud of the way his players competed on the way to a 21-5 season.

“You always want to win that last game of the year for your brothers and your seniors,” Rohrbach said. “We fought like we did all year long and sometimes it just doesn’t go your way.”

De SMET (21-5): Noah Luethmers 3 4-6 11, Slayten Wilkinson 8 0-0 18, Kolby Sinclair 1 4-6 6, Grant Wilkinson 4 1-4 9, Carter Wilkinson 3 1-2 10, Coy Regenmorter 1 0-0 2. Totals 20-54 10-18 56.

ABERDEEN CHRISTIAN (21-5): Dylan Hofer 1 4-6 6, Luke Kaiser 6 4-6 18, Brooks Jett 7 3-5 19, Raymond Rodriguez-Martinez 1 0-0 2. Totals 15-63 11-17 45.

De Smet 14 32 39 56

Aberdeen Christian 17 28 38 45

3-point field goals – Luethmers 1, S. Wilkinson 2, C. Wilkinson 3; Kaiser 2, Jett 2. Total fouls – De Smet 16; Aberdeen Christian 12. Rebounds – De Smet 45 (G. Wilkinson 13, S. Wilkinson 8); Aberdeen Christian 42 (Jett 15, Kaiser 11). Turnovers – De Smet 7; Aberdeen Christian 5. Assists – De Smet 10 (Luethmers 2, S. Wilkinson 2, G. Wilkinson 2, C. Wilkinson 2, Van Regemorter 2); Aberdeen Christian 3 (Kaiser 2). Blocked shots – De Smet 3 (G. Wilkinson 3); Aberdeen Christian 4 (Jett 4). Steals – De Smet 2; Aberdeen Christian 2.