From the opening tip, Clark-Willow Lake demonstrated why it is one of the elite Class A boys’ basketball teams in the state Thursday night at the Roncalli Gym.

The third-rated and undefeated Cyclones dominated on both ends of the floor in a 64-28 Northeast Conference victory over Aberdeen Roncalli.

“We always kind of preach doing things right all the time, whoever we’re playing, it doesn’t matter, or even in practice, it’s about doing the little things right,” said Clark-Willow Lake coach Jerome Nesheim. “That’s something that’s been carried on for a long time.”

The Cyclones scored the first 12 points of the contest on the way to building a 24-2 first-quarter advantage.

“We sure did execute. We ran all of our plays effectively,” said Clark-Willow Lake senior Jakob Steen. “We were dishing out passes left and right.”

Steen scored a career-high 11 points, all in the first 10 minutes of the game, and made all five of the shots that he took.

“I just was cutting and then I would box someone out and get the rebound and go up with it,” Steen said. “I hit a lucky three in the corner, too.”

Steen said the Cyclones have plenty of scoring options and his role is more on the defensive side of the ball.

“We have really good players on our team everywhere,” Steen said. “What I try to do is just try to play my best on defense, because that’s really what I’m in there for, to play defense and dish out passes, too.”

Clark-Willow Lake, which starts players at 6-foot-8, 6-6, 6-4, 6-3 and 6-2, owned a major size advantage over the Cavaliers.

“When we start three guys under 6-feet tall … it’s going to be a tough size matchup inside,” said Roncalli coach Dan Gallagher.

That was evident on the first possessions of the game. The Cyclones buried a defender in the post on their opening possession, and blocked a shot by Jesse Hernandez on Roncalli’s first possession.

“That first possession for us offensively, Jesse has what you would consider an open look against other team, but against (Emmerson) Larson, who can cover ground, it gets tipped, deflected and goes the other way,” Gallagher said. “They make it challenging no matter where you’re at, what side of the ball.”

Defense has been a point of emphasis for the Cyclones this season and the visitors did not give up many uncontested shots against Roncalli.

“We’ve been really working on not giving up set shots, making kids work to get shots off,” Nesheim said, “and when we can make kids work for shots, it makes it harder for them.”

Of course, having extra length helps the Cyclones to be able to extend on defense.

“It’s one of those teams, you know they’re great. They’re all tall, they know how to shoot, dribble, everything for being that tall,” said Roncalli’s Quinten Shelton. “You just gotta go in there hard. You can’t think you’re going to lose. You have to go in there believing in yourself, believing in your team.”

Clark-Willow Lake consistently moved the ball and found open shooters throughout the contest. That unselfish play is a trait of the squad, according to Nesheim.

“They’re always looking for the open guy, the extra pass,” Nesheim said. “They’ll give up a good shot for a better shot.”

The game was a big contrast to Roncalli’s last game where the Cavaliers won a lopsided game against Tiospa Zina.

“You have to stay well balanced. When you think you’re doing really good things, you’re going to get humbled in a lot of ways,” Gallagher said. “Clark’s a team that can humble teams pretty easily. We knew they were good coming in. We knew it was going to be a tall task.”

Shelton said the game presented some teachable moments for the Cavaliers.

“It’s really a learning moment. We did really good against TZ and then tonight we didn’t do our best,” Shelton said. “It’s just one of the learning moments … you can always do better and always learn from this.”

Chris Bevers topped Clark-Willow Lake with 14 points, and Trigg Felberg added 12 points off the bench.

Steen, who is a standout baseball player, said there is a major difference between the two sports.

“I love baseball, because it’s in the summer time and you can relax,” Steen said. “I’m the catcher in baseball and I’m kind of in control the whole time. That’s what I love about baseball, but basketball is a lot different because you’re running 24-7, and you never get to stop.”

The Cyclones have a major test coming up on Saturday facing top-rated and unbeaten West Central at the Hanson Classic in Mitchell.

“It’s heavy up there. It’s going to be a battle,” Nesheim said of the upcoming postseason in Class A. “That’s why games like this you’ve got to really work on doing things right, so that it becomes habit forming.”

Paul Barr led Roncalli with seven points. Hernandez and Bryson Olson each added six.

Roncalli had its game with Northwestern tonight postponed. The Cavaliers host Britton-Hecla on Thursday, before facing Groton, Milbank and Hamlin.

“We’ve got a gauntlet coming up,” Gallagher said. “We’ve got our work made out for us.”

CLARK-WILLOW LAKE (11-0): Emmerson Larson 2 0-0 4, Chris Bevers 6 2-2 14, Jakob Steen 5 0-0 11, Bo Begeman 2 2-2 6, Sully Felberg 3 0-0 6, Joey Ries 2 0-0 4, Ky Vandersnick 1 0-0 2, Will Hovde 1 0-0 3, Levi Atkins 1 0-0 2, Trigg Felberg 4 4-4 12. Totals 27-61 8-8 64.

ABERDEEN RONCALLI (3-6): Jesse Hernandez 2 0-0 6, Quinten Shelton 2 0-0 4, Bryson Olson 3 0-0 6, Ezra Feickert 1 0-0 3, Aiden Hernandez 1 0-0 2, Andrew Bain 0 0-2 0, Paul Barr 2 3-4 7. Totals 11-42 3-6 28.

Clark-Willow Lake 24 44 62 64

Aberdeen Roncalli 2 7 17 28

3-point field goals – Steen, Hovde; J. Hernandez, Feickert. Total fouls – Clark-Willow Lake 12; Aberdeen Roncalli 3. Rebounds – Clark-Willow Lake 37 (Begeman 9); Aberdeen Roncalli 16 (Bain 3). Turnovers – Clark-Willow Lake 5; Aberdeen Roncalli 12. Assists – Clark-Willow Lake 11 (Begeman 6); Aberdeen Roncalli 0. Blocked shots – Clark-Willow Lake 5; Aberdeen Roncalli 2. Steals – Clark-Willow Lake 2; Aberdeen Roncalli 3.