After a close first period to start the game, Aberdeen Christian took control against cross-town foe Aberdeen Roncalli Tuesday night.

The fifth-rated Knights dominated the middle quarters 42-17 to pave the way to a 65-42 non-conference boys’ basketball win at the Aberdeen Civic Arena.

“I contribute that to our bench coming in and giving us really good minutes. The competition in practice, keeping guys energized and everybody fresh, I thought was really nice to have,” said Christian coach Matt Rohrbach. “Three guys that played a lot off the bench tonight in Raymond (Rodriquez-Martinez), Charles (Eichler) and Loyall (Smith-Wade).”

Rohrbach figured it would be an electric atmosphere and the Knights could use the extra man power.

“That’s kind of what I expected. It was going to be a tight game, especially in the first quarter, and that’s the reason why we wanted to shuffle so much,” Rohrbach said, “because we knew it was going to be a high-energy, high-effort game.”

While the Cavaliers stayed within striking distance early, the game got away from them in the middle quarters.

“We started off really well. We forced the shots that we wanted them taking. They weren’t getting to the rim,” said Roncalli coach Dan Gallagher. “We were boxing out really well, but as that game got going, their physicality and athleticism just started to show.”

Christian outscored Roncalli 18-10 in the second quarter, and followed that up with a 24-7 third period.

“We mostly just tried to take away the paint, because that’s where they’re best at,” said Roncalli’s Sam Larson. “They were hitting 3’s also. In a zone, they got into the middle of the paint and we couldn’t do much after that.”

That Roncalli zone defense actually benefited the Knights, according to Christian junior Brooks Jett, who led all players with 20 points. He said the team needed a bounce-back win following its only loss last week against Milbank.

“We really needed it. Our offense was really stagnant. Our movement was a lot better,” Jett said. “I’m actually glad we faced some zone today, because it forced us to move the ball and not just play iso-ball.”

Meanwhile, the Knights were able to contain Roncalli leading scorer Jesse Hernandez, holding him to 10 points on the evening.

“They did a good job on Jesse for sure, taking him, for the most part, out of the game,” Gallagher said. “When he did get the ball it wasn’t clean.”

The contest is always an interesting one, pitting teammates in a football cooperative against each other in basketball. The players also play at open gyms in the off season.

“I definitely feel more relaxed,” Jett said. “I’ve played against them a lot. I know how they play.”

The Cavaliers have now lost three games in a row. Larson said there is work to be done on both ends of the floor.

“We gotta play better defense, that’s all it is, and rebound better,” Larson said. “And we also gotta get more shots. We’re turning over the ball too many times.”

Gallagher said the team needs to get back to its previous mindset when it opened the season with back-to-back wins. The Cavaliers host Leola-Frederick on Thursday night.

“What the guys talked about after the game was, we’ve got to come out wanting it more than maybe we have wanted it the last couple of games,” Gallagher said.

Christian hosts Waubay-Summit on Saturday at the Christian School Gym. The two teams split a pair of games last season.

“Last year obviously didn’t go our way in the regular season,” Jett said, “but we got them in the playoffs. We’ve got to bring it from the start.”

ABERDEEN RONCALLI (2-3): Jesse Hernandez 2 5-8 10, Sam Larson 2 5-6 9, Quinten Shelton 1 0-0 2, Bryson Olson 2 1-2 5, Aiden Hernandez 0 1-1 1, Creighton Fisher 3 0-0 7, Andrew Bain 1 0-0 2, Paul Barr 1 3-4 6. Totals 12 15-21 42.

ABERDEEN CHRISTIAN (4-1): Jett Johnson 2 0-0 5, Dylan Hofer 2 3-7 7, Grady Jett 4 2-2 10, Luke Kaiser 3 0-0 9, Brooks Jett 9 1-2 20, Loyall Smith-Wade 1 0-0 2, Charles Eichler 4 1-1 10, Daniel Opdahl 1 0-0 2. Totals 26 7-13 65.

Aberdeen Roncalli 14 24 31 42

Aberdeen Christian 19 37 61 65

3-point field goals – J. Hernandez, Fisher, Barr; Johnson, Kaiser 3, B. Jett, Eichler. Total fouls – Aberdeen Roncalli 14; Aberdeen Christian 16.