Boys prep basketball: Aberdeen Christian makes just enough free throws to turn back Faulkton
Aberdeen Christian picked up another win that will affect seeding later in the season as the Knights downed Faulkton 58-54 Tuesday night in Aberdeen.
Here are a couple of takeaways from the win.
Tight game throughout
Earlier this week, Faulkton (9-2) was receiving votes in the Class B media state poll, and this game sure felt that way.
After the first quarter, the Knights (7-2) held a 17-10 lead and would lead throughout the game. But Faulkton made key shots down the stretch to hang around. The Trojans were led by sophomore Layne Cotton with 14 points.
"He was hitting some tough shots, we wanted to make it difficult on him, and I thought he was causing a bit of some matchup problems. Credit to him, he hit some difficult shots," Aberdeen Christian head coach Michael Rohrbach said.
Going into the fourth quarter, the Trojans had cut into the Knights' lead by five. From there, though, Christian was able to seal the game by doing just enough at the free throw line. The Knights missed eight of 13 attempts.
Ethan Russell would connect on two of his four free throws in the fourth quarter and led the way for the Knights with 19 points. Malek Wieker also connected on some big free-throws late. Wieker finished the game with 14 points.
"I thought we intermixed a pretty good job of inside-out (offensively) ... I thought we didn't hit some shots our guys normally expect to make, so, you know, that makes it seem a little off offensively," Rohrbach said.
Seeding implications
With the win, the Knights pick up important postseason seeding points. Coming into the contest, the Trojans owned a 9-1 record. It's the second win in a row for the Knights with a team that has a winning percentage higher than .750.
"Definitely nice to get a win anytime you can get it ... Especially if it's going to get you a lot of seed points," Rohrbach said.
Those come into play at the end of the season for region play and SoDak16 pairings.
Up next, the Knights host Waubay/Summit on Thursday, with tip set for 7:45 p.m. The Mustangs own a 7-1 record.
O'Gorman downs Aberdeen Central in Top 5 matchup
O'Gorman used 23 points by Matthew Eng to down Aberdeen Central 67-37 Tuesday night at Golden Eagles Arena.
Headed into the Tuesday night contest, O'Gorman (9-1) was ranked second in the Class AA state media poll, while Central was fourth.
For Aberdeen Central (7-4), Sam Rohlfs had a team-high 14 points while Alec Voegele and AJ Hase both had eight points. As a team, the Golden Eagles connected on just one of their 16 three-point attempts.
Up next, the Eagles will travel to Brandon Valley Saturday with tip scheduled for 5 p.m.
Roncalli falls to Miller
Aberdeen Roncalli was unable to make it a successful road trip and fell 56-49 to Miller Tuesday night.
Roncalli (3-6) was led by Maddox Miller with 19 points, while Zee Mounga had 10 for the Cavaliers.
Miller (1-9) was led by Alex Schumacher with 17 points.
Up next, Roncalli will play host to Webster Area on Friday with tip scheduled for 7:30 p.m.
This article originally appeared on Aberdeen News: Aberdeen Christian Faulkton boys basketball south dakota highschool
