This time Aberdeen Christian was able to hang on to a second-half lead.
The Knights, who owned a seven-point halftime lead in a first-round setback on Thursday, built another double-digit advantage and this time held off a late charge from Viborg-Hurley to secure a 52-49 consolation round win Friday afternoon at during the State B Boys’ Basketball Tournament at Wachs Arena.
“We were saying in huddles we need to dig deep and finish this win out,” said Christian junior Luke Kaiser. “It was nice to finish it out with a win.”
Kaiser scored his team’s first eight points of the game, however, Viborg-Hurley went shot-for-shot with the Knights and Christian led just 18-16 after the first period.
Kaiser continued to do work in the second quarter, scoring five points during a 7-1 Christian run as the Knights built a 33-25 halftime advantage. Kaiser finished with 18 first-half points.
“It comes from my teammates,” Kaiser said. “They gave me the confidence to hit shots and they’re making things open up.”
The Knights stretched their lead to start the third quarter. Christian used a 10-3 surge to open a 43-28 lead.
However, the Cougars were far from finished, closing the quarter with eight unanswered points, including a crowd-energizing fast break dunk from Brady Schroedermeier.
“It’s amazing,” Schroedermeier said. “I should have two-handed it, but I just got up there and was like, I’m just going to use one hand.”
Viborg-Hurley kept the momentum rolling into the fourth quarter, scoring the first six points to make their scoring run 14-0 to close the gap to 43-42.
“We just said, we have to try to get one stop at a time,” said Viborg-Hurley coach Shane Warwick. “And we did get some stops and got it down to seven (at the end of the third quarter) and then it was just trying to chip away and trying to get stops.”
That’s when Christian freshman Loyall Smith-Wade came up huge for the Knights, responding with four straight points and a steal leading to a bucket to stretch the lead out to 49-42.
“He’s incredible,” said Christian coach Matt Rohrbach. “He’s only a freshman. He’s only going to get better … and the buckets he came up with were huge.”
The Cougars had chances in the closing seconds, missing one 3-pointer with 10 seconds left that would have given them the lead, and after a Christian free throw, missing another 3-pointer at the buzzer that would have tied the game.
Jake Austin scored 20 points to lead Viborg-Hurley. Schroedermeier finished with 16, and Bradyn Morrison added 10.
The Cougars, 20-5, will face Sully Buttes for seventh place at 11 this morning.
“I am super proud,” Schroedermeier said. “There are eight teams here and all eight of the teams, if you put them in a hat, any of them can win. … Every single one of these teams is top-notch.”
Kaiser led all players with game-high totals of 26 points and 11 rebounds.
The Knights, 21-4 on the season, will now move on to the consolation championship and play De Smet for fifth place at 12:45 this afternoon.
“I think we have a good chance to win (Saturday) if we just play our game and continue to play how we usually do,” Kaiser said.
ABERDEEN CHRISTIAN (21-4): Jett Johnson 2 0-0 6, Dylan Hofer 2 0-0 4, Grady Jett 1 0-0 2, Luke Kaiser 10 2-4 26, Brooks Jett 1 0-2 2, Loyall Smith-Wade 2 0-0 4, Charles Eichler 3 0-0 8. Totals 21-51 2-4 52.
VIBORG-HURLEY (20-5): Bradyn Morrison 4 0-0 10, Brenner Gerdes 1 0-0 2, Jake Austin 7 2-2 20, Brady Schroedermeier 7 2-3 16, Lincoln Vannorsdel 0 1-2 1. Totals 19-52 5-7 49.
Aberdeen Christian 18 33 43 52
Viborg-Hurley 16 25 36 49
3-point field goals – Kaiser 4, Johnson 2, Eichler 2; Austin 4, Morrison 2. Total fouls – Aberdeen Christian 11; Viborg-Hurley 13. Rebounds – Aberdeen Christian 37 (Kaiser 11); Viborg-Hurley (Schroedermeier 10). Turnovers – Aberdeen Christian 13; Viborg-Hurley 9. Assists – Aberdeen Christian 12 (Hofer 8); Viborg-Hurley 10 (Schroedermeier 5). Blocked shots – Aberdeen Christian 5 (B. Jett 4); Viborg-Hurley 2 (Schroedermeier 2). Steals – Aberdeen Christian 5 (Hofer 2); Viborg-Hurley 8 (Schroedermeier 5).
