Rapid City Central snatched victory away from Aberdeen Central in the season opener Friday night at Golden Eagles Arena.

The Cobblers went 4-for-4 from the free throw line in the final 13 seconds of the night to steal – almost literally – a 57-52 win away from the Golden Eagles, who led by double digits in the first half.

Aberdeen Central began the night with a quick early lead thanks to a pair of Carter Dingman 3-pointers in the early going. Brian Johnson slid open for a couple easy buckets in the second quarter and was a force on the offensive glass as the Golden Eagles pushed their advantage to 10 with under two minutes to play in the half.

“I thought our first half was good,” said Aberdeen Central coach Brent Norberg. “The effort was good. We had a 10-point lead, then they went on a 5-0 run at the end of the half, and that hurt a little bit.”

That late push from the Cobblers cut that advantage in half and gave Rapid City Central some momentum going into the break.

Aberdeen Central pushed the lead back to nine right away to begin the third.

“We were in control most of the game,” Norberg said.

That control slipped a bit late in the game, as the Cobblers took advantage of some Aberdeen Central turnovers and turned them into points, something they weren’t able to do in the first half.

“We had some bad ones where they ended up scoring on the other end,” Norberg said. “But we also missed some opportunities to get shots up. We forced some stuff that wasn’t there. We’ve got to be a little more patient.”

The Cobblers forged a tie late in the third quarter, scored the first five points of the fourth and settled in for a see-saw battle to the wire, pushing a one-point lead to a two-possession edge in the waning seconds of the night.

“It’s unfortunate because we played hard enough to win, just didn’t get it done,” Norberg said. 

Aberdeen Central ended the night with more offensive rebounds than defensive boards, something that came as a pleasant surprise to Norberg.

“That was a big concern of ours going in,” he said. “To know we can do that – it was just sheer effort.”

Dingman ended his night with 13 points and six rebounds. Spencer Barr had nine points, as did Grant Fritz. Parker Lemer had eight and Johnson came off the bench for six points and five rebounds, three of which were offensive.

Rapid City Central was led by Jet Janvrin with 16 points. Shun-Zi White Woman added 11 and Will Paepke and Cameron Steidley both came off the bench for eight points apiece.

Aberdeen Central will get an opportunity to get right back on the court, as the Golden Eagles host Rapid City Stevens today at 1:30 p.m. at the Aberdeen Civic Arena.

“The nice thing about this scenario is the game is early and we’ll be back at it pretty quick,” Norberg said. “We’ll just figure out what we did wrong and go from there.”

RAPID CITY CENTRAL (1-0): Jon Suarez 1 4-4 6, Jet Janvrin 6 2-2 16, Tyson Waters 1 0-0 2, Shun-Zi White Woman 4 2-3 11, Cameron Steidley 2 2-2 8, Carson Kurtenbach 2 0-0 4, Killian Petersen 1 0-0 2, Will Paepke 4 0-0 8. Totals 21-38 10-11 57.

ABERDEEN CENTRAL (0-1): Carter Dingman 5 0-0 13, Karson Carda 1 2-3 4, Parker Lemer 2 3-4 8, Spencer Barr 4 0-0 9, Jett Carlson 1 0-2 2, Brian Johnson 3 0-0 6, Oliver Rife 0 1-4 1, Grant Fritz 4 0-0 9. Totals 20-49 6-13 52.

Rapid City Central 11 26 43 57

Aberdeen Central 16 31 43 52

3-pt FG – RCC 5-12 (Janvrin 2, White Woman, Steidley 2); AC 6-19 (Dingman 3, Lemer, Barr, Fritz). Rebounds – RCC 23 (White Woman 7); AC 27 (Dingman 6, Johnson 5). Fouls – RCC 14; AC 12. Fouled out – AC, Carda. Assists – RCC 3 (Archambault 2); AC 5 (Barr 2). Turnovers – RCC 19; AC 18. Steals – RCC 9 (Janvrin 2, Steidley 2, Archambault 2); AC 13 (Barr 5).