While the expectation was always to qualify for this year’s Class B State Boy’s Basketball Tournament, the Aberdeen Christian Knights never took it as a given.
Despite returning all of their starting lineup from last year’s state tourney team, the Knights did not just assume they would be qualifying for state for the fourth consecutive season.
“Look, it’s not easy to make it to a state tournament,” said first-year Christian coach Matt Rohrbach. “That was first and foremost of what we talked about. I didn’t want it to be a been there, done that type of thing.”
The Knights have been top-rated most of the season and did not lose to a single Class B opponent. While bringing home the state championship is the ultimate goal, Rohrbach said his players are not consumed by it.
“Of course we want to win it, like everybody does, but the relationships and the comeraderie is something that I think these kids will remember,” Rohrbach said. “That’s really what I’m definitely proud of and happy about is how we’ve just been together this year. Every basketball season has its challenges, but in some ways these kids have kind of conquered the ‘it’s not about me, it’s about we,’ so I’m more happy about that.”
Christian features a deep squad that is long on experience. As a result, Rohrbach said practices took on a much different tone this season than back when he played for the Knights.
“It really felt like we had 10 upperclassmen just pushing each other every day,” he said. “I really credit that to some of our success this year.”
While Ethan Russell, Malek Wieker and Jackson Isakson are the team’s top scorers, other senior starters Andrew Brennan and Kaden Clark also are key to the team’s success.
“You’ve seen two years in a row now Andrew Brennan’s had a really good SoDak 16 game,” Rohrbach said. “In some ways it’s almost harder to play good in that game because it’s win or go home.”
Clark is the quarterback of the defense, always calling out signals to his teammates.
“He’s our vocal leader and it’s not close,” Rohrbach said, “and that isn’t to say the other guys don’t talk or anything like that, but he knows that that is what he excels in and what he brings to the table.”
Throw in key reserves Konnar Furman, Joey Johnson, Ellis Russell and Abe Holscher and it’s easy to see why the Knights have one of the deepest teams in the tournament. However, it’s the work ethic and chemistry that have taken the team to a whole new level.
“I think what gets lost going into the state tournament for three years in a row, and now a fourth, what kind of gets forgotten is how much work it takes to get there,” Rohrbach said. “It’s not possible without a team and I feel like that’s more prevalent this year than ever.”
While the Knights are in search of the school’s first ever state boys’ basketball championship, Rohrbach said that regardless of the outcome this week the players will always remember the joy in the journey.
“That’s definitely kind of what we talked about,” Rohrbach said. “The state tournament obviously is good, but winning the conference and all of the fun that we’ve had this year, road trips and all that, it’s something we’ll always remember, not necessarily just winning that plaque at the end.”
