BRANDON – Aberdeen Central was concerned about Brandon Valley’s inside game, but it was the perimeter players that made the difference Saturday evening.

The Lynx received 27 points from their starting guards to help fuel a 52-43 Eastern South Dakota Conference boys’ basketball victory over the fourth-rated Golden Eagles.

Brandon Valley built a lead and then got big baskets from Dylan Langerock and Riley Miller down the stretch.

“Every time we would make a little run, they would make big shots,” said Central assistant coach Trent Kurtz.

The Eagles struggled shooting the ball in the opening half, managing just 14 points. They were 0 for 6 from three-point range and 4 of 10 at free-throw stripe.

Kurtz said the players kept competing even though shots were not falling.

“Credit to our guys. We kept playing hard,” Kurtz said.

Soon, the offense found a rhythm and Central was right in contention.

“Offensively, we got a lot better in the second half,” Kurtz said. “We started moving the ball better, saw a couple of shots go down.”

However, in the end, the Lynx made too many shots from the perimeter.

“We were worried about their big kids,” said Kurtz, praising the interior defense of Alec Voegele, Noah Behrends and Brady Rohrbach. “They played one and one and we never really brought help for them, and they defended really well.”

Langerock had 16 points and Miller 11 to lead Brandon Valley.

Voegele topped Central with 18 points and Sam Rohlfs added 10.

The Eagles, 7-5 on the season, travel to Pierre on Tuesday. Kurtz noted that the squads have had a similar season so far. Both teams started the year with four straight wins, but have had a tough go of it lately. Central has lost three straight, while the Governors have lost five of their last six.

“We need to get a win here and then we have about a 10-day break where we can really fix some stuff,” Kurtz said, “but we need to get a win to a get a little momentum going into that long break.”

ABERDEEN CENTRAL (7-5): Alec Voegele 7 2-3 18, Noah Behrends 2 2-4 7, Jackson Dorsett 1 0-0 3, Sam Rohlfs 4 2-4 10, AJ Hase 2 0-1 5, Brady Rohrbach 0 0-2 0. Totals 16 6-14 43.

BRANDON VALLEY (4-4): Dawson Mork 0 0-2 0, Sam Scholten 1 0-0 3, Landon Dulaney 1 0-0 2, Max Vanwesten 1 0-0 2, Dylan Langerock 5 4-5 16, Riley Miller 4 0-0 11, Lukas Morgan 2 0-0 4, Nate Vandeberg 2 3-4 7, Jameson Kreutzfeldt 2 3-6 7. Totals 18 10-15 52.

Aberdeen Central 9 14 29 43

Brandon Valley 10 21 37 52

3-point field goals – Voegele 2, Behrends, Dorsett, Hase; Scholten, Langer 2, Miller 3. Fouled out – Rohrbach. Total fouls – Aberdeen Central 16; Brandon Valley 12. Rebounds – Aberdeen Central 24 (Voegele 5, Behrends 5); Brandon Valley 28 (Miller 11). Turnovers – Aberdeen Central 12; Brandon Valley 9.