The game was there for the taking and eventually Aberdeen Central reached out and grabbed it.

The Golden Eagles found some offense when they needed it most to pull away from Rapid City Stevens and record a 45-36 non-conference boys’ basketball win Saturday afternoon at the Aberdeen Civic Arena.

Central’s defense was stout enough to keep the team in the game until the offense finally came through in the clutch, scoring 16 unanswered points to take control.

“The thing that I was impressed with, is even when you’re not scoring, those guys guarded every possession. That was the reason we were able to be in it,” said Central coach Brent Norberg. “We kept playing defense, kept playing defense and finally we scored enough points to win the game. That’s what you have to do when you’re struggling on offense.”

The Eagles trailed 31-27 early in the fourth quarter and had just gone nearly eight minutes without scoring. Norberg was beginning to wonder if his team had enough offense left in it to rally for a victory.

“It was 31-27 and I told my assistants, I’m not sure we can score four more points to win this game the way it’s going,” Norberg said. “Obviously, sure I was a little facetious, but there’s a part of me like, because we just couldn’t get anything. We’d get a layup, miss it, miss a free throw. But I think big part was we got aggressive. We got to the foul line a little bit and got a couple of things in transition.”

The surge started innocently enough on a Carter Dingman free throw. Then Karson Carda made a foul shot. Eventually, Central tied the Raiders at 31-31 when Grant Fritz scored in the lane.

Soon the Eagles took the lead on two more Dingman free throws. Spencer Barr added three more foul shots before Carda scored on a drive for a 38-31 lead. Parker Lemer then delivered the dagger with a three-pointer and a steal and layup which left Central with a 43-31 lead with 59 seconds remaining.

“We found what we do best on offense and defense,” Lemer said, “and we had some huge stops.”

For sure, Central’s defense played a huge role in the victory, allowing just two fourth-quarter points until the final minute of action.

“On the defensive side we just played really well,” Lemer said. “We went into a zone and that kind of threw them off and then we went back to man-to-man.”

Norberg was pleased with his players’ attitudes when things weren’t going their way to start the final period.

“I was proud of the kids, because when they went up four, I’m thinking to myself if we pout for two or three possessions here and all of a sudden it’s 9 or 10, that felt like a 20-point game today,” Norberg said. “To their credit, they just hung in there, hung in there.”

Central featured a balanced scoring attack led by Lemer with 11 points. Dingman followed with 10, Barr added 9 and Carda contributed 8. All five starters scored during the team’s pivotal push at the finish.

“I think on offense we’re going to be very versatile with scoring,” Lemer said. “A lot of us can score the basketball.”

Central is 1-1 on the season after splitting a pair of games on the weekend. Norberg likes what he has seen so far, especially on the defensive end.

“My biggest takeaway from the weekend is I’m so pleased with where were are defensively,” Norberg said. “We still have things to work on and big teams are going to give us problems, but these guys really got down and guarded better than I had hoped they could. We can continue to get better at that and that will hopefully keep us in some games.”

The Golden Eagles travel across the state for games at Spearfish on Friday and Sturgis on Saturday. They will hop on the bus with some confidence gained from the win over Stevens.

“I think we can use this confidence going into next weekend when we go out west,” Lemer said, “and I think we can use this the rest of the year.”

RAPID CITY STEVENS (0-2): Ethan Pisle 1 0-0 3, Hayden Gebhart 1 0-0 2, Caden Dowling 4 0-0 8, Will Dorch 2 2-2 6, Nash Sobczak 2 1-1 5, Dayler Segrist 2 1-1 5, Kaelem Brooks 1 0-2 2, Madinko Hawley 1 0-2, Minkah Hawley 1 0-0 3. Totals 15 4-6 36.

ABERDEEN CENTRAL (1-1): Carter Dingman 3 3-4 10, Karson Carda 3 2-4 8 Jett Carlson 1 0-0 2, Parker Lemer 4 2-4 11, Spencer Barr 2 4-7 9, Camden Fauth 1 0-0 3, Grant Fritz 1 0-0 2. Totals 15 11-19 45.

Rapid City Stevens 5 21 29 36

Aberdeen Central 13 20 27 45

3-point field goals – Pisle, Minkah Hawley; Dingman, Lemer, Barr, Fauth. Fouled out – Sobczak, Segrist, Madinko Hawley. Total fouls – Rapid City Stevens 20; Aberdeen Central 15. Rebounds – Rapid City Stevens 39 (Segrist 9); Aberdeen Central 26 (Dingman 7). Turnovers – Rapid City Stevens 22; Aberdeen Central 10.