WATERTOWN – Another strong start for Aberdeen Central was upended by the second quarter in a 69-45 Eastern South Dakota Conference boys’ basketball loss to fifth-rated Watertown Tuesday night.
The Golden Eagles stayed within striking distance over the opening few minutes of play, but hit a scoring drought late in the stanza, then went cold over the next eight minutes of action, finding themselves in a 38-15 hole.
“I thought we got off to a good start the first six minutes of the first quarter,” said Central coach Colton McClemans. “We gave up a run to end the first that put us down 11, then struggled offensively in the second quarter to take care of the ball and allowed the lead to expand.”
Watertown pushed that lead to 59-32 by the end of the third quarter before pulling their foot off the gas late.
“Kids played hard in the second half and continued to battle,” McClemans said. “We did some better things offensively, just couldn’t string stops together, as we had to get up and press, which created some easy opportunities for them.”
Aberdeen Central was led in scoring by Luke Swanson with 16 points. Carter Board came off the bench for nine points, while Gavin Hauck added eight.
Watertown got 20 points, seven assists and three steals from Jackson McClemans. Isaac Rehorst added 18 and Jack Mack tallied 13 points and a game-best eight rebounds.
Central, 1-16 on the season, will host Brookings Friday night, honoring its three seniors prior to the game. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. at Golden Eagles Arena.
ABERDEEN CENTRAL (1-16): Luke Swanson 4 7-10 16, Jack Bertsch 3 0-0 6, Gavin Hauck 3 0-0 8, Austin Ryan 0 2-2 2, Brenner Waldrop 1 0-0 2, Elijah Franks 1 0-0 2, Carter Board 3 1-2 9. Totals 15-48 10-14 45.
WATERTOWN (14-3): Jack Mack 4 4-7 13, Dane Stark 2 0-0 5, Kaden Decker 1 0-0 3, Jackson McClemans 7 4-4 20, Isaac Rehorst 7 4-6 18, Landon Struckman 0 1-2 1, Mason Anderson 3 0-2 7. Totals 24-52 13-21 67.
Aberdeen Central 11 15 32 45
Watertown 22 38 59 69
3-pt field goals – Swanson, Hauck 2, Board 2; Mack, Stark, Decker, McClemans 2, Anderson. Totals fouls – Aberdeen Central 17; Watertown16. Rebounds – Aberdeen Central 29 (Waldrop 6); Watertown 39 (Mack 8). Assists – Aberdeen Central 15 (Swanson 4, Ryan 4); Watertown 24 (McClemans 7). Turnovers – Aberdeen Central 20; Watertown 19. Steals – Aberdeen Central 16; Watertown 20. Blocks – Aberdeen Central 1 (Waldrop); Watertown 1 (Rehorst).
