ABERDEEN – An eight-minute scoring drought proved eight minutes too long for Aberdeen Central on Tuesday night.
The Golden Eagles saw a 6-0 lead in the game's first two minutes dissolve into a 27-16 deficit by halftime, as second-rated Brookings rallied, then held on to take a 55-44 boys' basketball victory at Golden Eagles Arena.
The Bobcats finished the regular season with a 17-3 record, including a 14-2 mark in the Eastern South Dakota Conference.
Brookings, which had already clinched the league title entering Tuesday’s contest, finished two games ahead of Brandon Valley (14-6, 12-4) and three games clear of Huron (15-5, 11-5) in the final ESD standings.
It marked the school’s first ESD boys’ basketball title since 1988.
"We didn't play very well in the second quarter," said Central coach Brent Norberg. "Didn't score, didn't move the ball very well, took some poor shots. And they capitalized."
Central scored six points in the game's first two minutes of play, then did not score again until the 5:59 mark of the second quarter. By then, the Bobcats had found a rhythm and – after shooting just 14.3 percent in the first quarter – lit up the net from long range.
"We didn't do a very good job keeping the ball out of the middle," Norberg said. "We did early, and got up 6-0 and then we didn't anymore. Once the ball got to the middle of the lane, it was two passes and a three. That's why you go 16-3. Everyone talks about the shots, but the two passes before that are why you go 16-3."
Brookings got back-to-back 3-pointers from Carter Holm to begin the second, then sprinkled 3s from Josh Mohs, Devin Coughlin and Ryan Argust through the remainder of the quarter.
"It wasn't pretty," said Brookings coach Travis Engebretson of the opening sequence for his team. "But we pride ourselves on defense and that's what got us through that first quarter. (It was) 6-6 and we could very easily have been down 16-6 or something. It was much better the second, third and fourth quarters."
The result was a lead that felt, at times, insurmountable.
Central was able to battle its way to the free-throw line in the second half, but could not match single points to Brookings' field goals.
Brookings, meanwhile, was happy to escape the night with its 17th win of the season.
"Our seniors know we didn't play our best basketball tonight," Engebretson said. "Coming up here on a Tuesday night against Aberdeen, who's a pretty good basketball squad, we're happy to go home with the win, but we know we've got work to do between now and Tuesday."
Cole Bergan finished with a game-best 22 points to lead the Golden Eagles, going 14-for-15 from the free-throw line in the process. He also pulled in 10 rebounds.
Brookings got 11 points from Mohs and 10 apiece from Brennan Carlson and Drew Cole.
Holm had eight points and seven boards, as the Bobcats out-rebounded the hosts by a 36-24 margin.
Central ended its regular season with an 8-12 mark (7-9 ESD) and now turns its attention to the postseason. The Golden Eagles travel to Pierre for the semifinals of the District 3AA tournament on Tuesday.
"They've beat us twice and they've scored very easily on us," Norberg said. "We didn't defend very well either time. We'll have to figure out in a week how to defend better, take care of the ball better at their place and somehow get a win."
Brookings earned the No. 2 seed behind Sioux Falls O’Gorman in District 1AA, as the Bobcats play host to Watertown in the semifinals on Tuesday at 7 p.m. at Bob Jostad Gymnasium.
