Aberdeen Christian’s Brent Ekanger, left, tries to lay up a shot past Aberdeen Roncalli’s Gray Imbery and Zeezrom Mounga, right, as the Knight’s Jackson Isakson, far right, looks on during Thursday night’s game at the Roncalli High School gym. Photo by John Davis taken 2/18/2021

Aberdeen Christian matched Aberdeen Roncalli’s physicality and ended up snapping the Cavaliers’ five-game winning streak Thursday night.

The Knights held off a late surge to claim a 55-45 non-conference boys’ basketball victory at Roncalli gym.

“They’re really playing well. Anytime you play a Class A school you expect a physical game. We told the guys coming in to be more physical,” said Christian coach David Rohrbach. “We knew that was kind of going to be the focal point, that we were going to need to be physical and that they were going to be relentless, which they were. They just kept coming.”

The Knights appeared to have things well in hand, leading by 15 points early in the final period. However, Roncalli cranked up its defense and eventually sliced the lead down to five in the closing minutes. The Cavaliers had a chance to cut the deficit down to two points with about minute left, but missed a three-point attempt. Christian was then able to rebuild the margin back to double digits.

“You’re going to be in close games as you get towards the playoffs and into the playoffs so you have to be able to finish games.” Rohrbach said. “It got a little closer than we would have liked. We need to tighten some stuff up, end of game stuff, but really good to see our guys finish the game.”

Malek Wieker poured in a game-high 24 points to lead Christian, which improved to 14-4 on the season. Jackson Isakson contributed 10.

Roncalli was led by Gray Imbery with 23 points. Micah Dohrer addd 11. The Cavaliers slipped to 8-10 on the year.

The contest marked the first-ever meeting between the two schools, which have a coop in football, meaning the contest pitted gridiron teammates against each other.

“We definitely wanted to win this one,” Rohrbach said. “Really fun atmosphere, fun crowd, fun place to play.”

ABERDEEN CHRISTIAN (14-4): Jackson Isakson 4 1-5 10, Malek Wieker 9 2-2 24, Ethan Russell 3 2-3 8, Brent Ekanger 3 0-1 6, Jett Becker 2 1-2 5, Kaden Clark 1 0-0 2. Totals 22 6-13 55.

ABERDEEN RONCALLI (8-10): Micah Dohrer 3 5-6 11, Brian Holmstrom 0 2-2 2, Gray Imbery 10 3-7 23, Maddox May 4 0-0 8, Keegan Stewart 0 1-2 1. Totals 17 6-17 45.

Aberdeen Christian 14 25 39 55

Aberdeen Roncalli 8 16 26 45

3-point field goals – Isakson, Wieker 4. Total fouls – Aberdeen Christian 17; Aberdeen Roncalli 16.