MOBRIDGE – In a game of runs, Aberdeen Christian produced the most crucial surge of all Saturday afternoon.
The Knights rallied from a six-point fourth-quarter deficit to pick up a 60-52 non-conference boys’ basketball win over Mobridge-Pollock.
The first run of the game came in the first few minutes as the Tigers scored six straight points to take a 6-2 lead. Jett Johnson took matters into his own hands, scoring the first eight points for the Knights tying the game at 8-8.
“Jett had the first eight points of the game, actually. He was really the only one in the first half that kind of got it going,” said Christian coach Matt Rohrbach.
After struggling to find shots to go right away, the Knights picked up their output and eventually led 22-12 lead with seven minutes remaining in the half.
However, that output came to a halt as Mobridge-Pollock’s lineup stepped up with the Knights holding Tigers leading scorer Shooter Frederick in check.
“We missed some shots early. Actually, at the rim unfortunately and that’s kind of the way basketball is sometimes,” Rohrbach said. “We held Shooter in check, which is super nice, but the other guys kind of got flowing a little bit in the second quarter. We were up 22-12 actually and we had a chance to kind of put things away and unfortunately, in the last six minutes of the second quarter, we literally scored three points.”
In the final six minutes of the quarter, the Tigers went on a 13-3 run to tie the game going into halftime. They carried that momentum in the third quarter as they scored the first four points coming out of half.
The Knights got the looks that they wanted on offense, but couldn’t get a shot to fall.
“Basketball is such a make or miss game. We started the third quarter with exactly what we wanted. We had two really good looks, two really good offensive possessions and we just didn’t finish,” said Rohrbach. “We tell our guys that even though we didn’t get the points we wanted on those two possessions, we actually executed everything we should have done and sometimes that’s just the way basketball is.”
The Knights answered with 3-pointers from Johnson and Dylan Hofer to take the lead and held it for a majority of the third quarter. The Tigers tied it twice, but Brooks Jett made a shot to put Christian ahead as the third quarter ended.
The Tigers started the fourth quarter with eight straight points to grab a six-point lead with six minutes remaining as the Knights struggled to finish the looks they wanted once again.
“We started out, Luke (Kaiser) had a wide open 3 that just didn’t go and it was a good look,” Rohrbach said. “They came down and had back-to-back 3 themselves. Shooter hit one in a couple of our guys’ faces. And then they hit another one, I think it was #5 (Kyson Good Shield).”
The Knights made a few changes that sparked a late-game run that helped them to take over the game.
“I thought Ray (Rodriguez-Martinez) brought us some good energy. Loyal (Smith-Wade) and Charles (Eichler) were in the game at that time when we were going on a run with Brooks and Dylan,” said Rohrbach. “It was fun to kind of see a different lineup that we haven’t really tried a bunch this year get us rolling there in the fourth.”
It was Smith-Wade who sparked a change, scoring all seven of his points in the final quarter, forcing a key steal and making a clutch shot to help Christian stay in control.
“He had seven points all, I believe, in the fourth quarter,” said Rohrbach. “It really felt like the momentum completely switched when we had called the timeout, hit Loyal on a back door and he had a chance to put us up five or something. And it just felt like OK, this is our game.”
Hofer had 14 points to lead Christian. Johnson and Jett each finished with 12.
Trueth Crow Ghost and Easton Eisemann each scored a dozen points for the Tigers.
After coming away with a win against Class A Mobridge-Pollock, the Knights, 17-2, will finish out their regular season playing at seventh-rated Class A Groton on Friday.
“We obviously know it’s going to be tough. They’re a quality ball club, much like Mobridge was. (Class) A school, physical, quick and athletic. What we’re really looking to do is just play our best,” Rohrbach said. “Having two losses on the year, we feel it’s a successful season. But at the end of the day, we want to play our best at the end of the year, and I just hope that we go in there with a winning possession mindset.”
ABERDEEN CHRISTIAN (17-2): Jett Johnson 5 0-0 12, Dylan Hofer 4 5-5 14, Luke Kaiser 3 2-2 8, Brooks Jett 5 1-2 12, Loyal Smith-Wade 3 1-3 6, Charles Eichler 3 0-0 6. Totals 23 9-12 60.
MOBRIDGE-POLLOCK (11-8): Trueth Crow Ghost 5 0-0 12, Shooter Frederick 3 2-2 9, Easton Eisemann 3 6-6 12, Kyson Good Shield 3 0-0 8, Jesse Schneider 1 0-0 2, Kale Knudson 3 3-5 9. Totals 18 11-13 52.
Aberdeen Christian 15 25 40 60
Mobridge-Pollock 12 25 38 52
3-point field goals- Johnson 3, Hofer, Jett; Crow Ghost 2, Frederick, Good Shield 2.
