Malek Wieker thwarted Aberdeen Roncalli’s game plan at the Aberdeen Civic Arena Thursday night.

The Aberdeen Christian guard scored 19 first-half points to help lead the Knights to their 13th consecutive win with a 66-33 non-conference boys’ basketball victory over the Cavaliers.

“It really felt like a region championship game and I live for those big moments,” Wieker said of the atmosphere. “When I saw my first one go in, I knew it was going to be one of those nights.”

The Cavaliers wanted to shut down the left-handed sharp-shooter, but that did not happen.

“The first half our entire game plan was, we understand everyone can shoot, but let’s do our best to take Malek out of it, but we did not do that,” said Roncalli coach Dan Gallagher. “We were planning on face guarding and I think we got lost in trying to play too much help off of him, which wasn’t the plan going in. It was a coaching error. We didn’t get our guys who were face-guarding him, prepared well enough, just understanding that assignment and he made us pay for it.”

Wieker made his first three-pointer just 30 seconds into the game and by the end of the opening quarter he had 11 points and the Knights owned a 19-4 advantage. He then produced eight more points in the second quarter as Christian pulled away.

“He came out firing,” said Christian coach David Rohrbach. “It seemed like every time you looked he was open and he was hitting them.”

Wieker said the key to getting open was setting screens for his teammates.

“At the beginning of the game, coach wanted me to set a lot of screens,” Wieker said. “Obviously, when you set screens, you get open because the defense will go to the guy you set a screen for. I really focused on setting screens today and that’s what fortunately got me open.”

Meanwhile, the Cavaliers were struggling on offense, managing just 13 first-half points.

Christian was able to hold its own in the paint and deny high-percentage shots throughout the contest.

“We thought we could kind of switch 1 through 4 for sure. I thought we did that pretty well. I thought we got on the boards pretty good, too, established position inside,” Rohrbach said. “We knew they’d be physical so I thought we met their physicality well, especially early on and then for the most part sustained it, and did a good job on the boards.”

It turned out to be the worst possible combination for the Cavaliers: a lack of offensive production on one end and facing an offensive juggernaut on the other.

“It doesn’t help that we didn’t shoot the ball well. It’s not like we were turning the ball over a ton in the first half. It’s just we weren’t making shots,” Gallagher said. “We were taking some poor shots, but at the same time, Malek hit four or five in that first half, some that were highly contested. Abe Holscher hit one, a turnaround jumper off one leg, and that’s when we just realized, what are we going to do about that? You’re playing a high-powered offense, great players from 1-7, 1-8, it’s tough to defend and when you do, you get lucky it seems like.”

The Knights featured a balanced attack on the night with Ethan Russell and Kaden Clark each scoring eight, Jackson Isakson seven, and Andrew Brennan and Holscher six apiece.

That balance was something Rohrbach addressed before the contest.

“A big thing I told the guys in the locker room, obviously in a big crowd the temptation can be to come out and just get tunnel vision,” Rohrbach said. “We wanted to make sure they were looking for each other, make sure to share the ball and play together on both ends and I thought we did a pretty good job of playing together, for sure on the defensive end. We got out and ran and shared the ball on the offensive end, too.”

Roncalli was led by Maddox May with 10 and Keegan Stewart with nine.

A big highlight for the Cavaliers was the return to the court for senior Carson Helms who suffered a major knee injury in football and has been rehabbing since. Helms played one possession to start the game and then scored four points in the closing minutes.

“That was a special moment. He came to every open gym, every practice,” Gallagher said. “To see him be able to do that and then get the points at the end, it was special moment.”

To have it come against some of his football teammates from Christian made it even better.

“The support for him across the board, whether it’s Christian or Roncalli, it shows what type of special guy he is, and the leadership he has for our community,” Gallagher said.

The Cavaliers, 5-13, take on Langford Area at around 6:30 p.m. Saturday at the Warner Classic.

“That’s a big one,” Gallagher said. “If we can stay where we’re at as far as region points go, that’s what we’re looking for moving into the post season.”

Christian, 17-2, hosts Groton on Friday, Feb. 25 at the Civic Arena. The Tigers have lost just three games so far this season.

“Groton is a very good team,” Rohrbach said. “They have some really good guards. They’re relentless on the defensive end. They don’t take plays off. They’re going to be in your grill the entire game.”

ABERDEEN RONCALLI (5-13): Maddox Miller 3 0-0 6, Zee Mounga 1 0-0 2, Keegan Stewart 3 1-3 9, Maddox May 5 0-0 10, Carson Helms 2 -0 4, Caden Shelton 1 0-0 2. Totals 15-48 1-3 33.

ABERDEEN CHRISTIAN (17-2): Andrew Brennan 3 0-0 6, Jackson Isakson 2 2-2 7, Ethan Russell 4 0-0 8, Malek Wieker 7 1-1 19, Kaden Clark 4 0-0 8, Abe Holscher 3 0-0 6, Josh Schaunaman 1 0-0 3, Konnar Furman 1 0-0 3, Blake Rich 2 0-0 6. Totals 27-57 3-4 66.

Aberdeen Roncalli 4 13 23 33

Aberdeen Christian 19 40 55 66

3-point field goals – Stewart 2; Isakson, Wieker 4, Schaunaman, Furman, Rich 2. Total fouls – Aberdeen Roncalli 9; Aberdeen Christian 7. Rebounds – Aberdeen Roncalli 23 (Mounga 4, Stewart 4, May 4); Aberdeen Christian 39 (Russell 7, Clark 6, Wieker 6). Turnovers – Aberdeen Roncalli 11; Aberdeen Christian 6. Assists – Aberdeen Christian 12 (Brennan 3, Wieker 3). Steals – Aberdeen Christian 6.