Aberdeen Christian turned to its perimeter power to produce another Lake Region Conference boys’ basketball championship.

The top-rated Knights knocked down nine three-point field goals to fuel a 65-45 LRC victory over Ipswich Tuesday night at the Civic Arena.

Christian connected on five 3-pointers in the second period when it built a double-digit lead.

“That’s a testament to the kids sharing the basketball and getting the looks that we want,” said Christian coach Matt Rohrbach. “We talk about inside-out three-pointers, drive and kick, and stuff like that. Credit to the kids for obviously knocking them down, but I feel like we’re capable of hitting those shots when we take the right shots and we take them in rhythm.”

Trailing by one point after the opening quarter, the Knights put together a 21-point second period to grab the momentum. It started on back-to-back three-pointers from Jackson Isakson.

“Credit to Andrew Brennan on my second three,” Isakson said. “He got the steal, drove down and got two guys to go on him, and kicked it back out to me.”

Ethan Russell and Malek Wieker also hit shots from beyond the three-point line in the second quarter to fuel the burst.

“They’re a good basketball team. There’s no doubt about that,” said Ipswich coach Stew Bohle. “I thought we played pretty good defense. There wasn’t too many open looks. We had guys with hands up, hands in faces, and they have some shooters and they made shots. That’s just the bottom line.”

The Knights received three-point field goals from five different players in the contest.

“Coach Rohrbach always says we’re a good shooting team, but we don’t need to shoot threes to win games,” Isakson said. “We’ve always been a good-shooting team. That just adds on to it. When we’re hitting threes, we’re pretty much impossible to beat.”

Rohrbach has the luxury of having three potent outside shooters, each of which scored their 1,000th career point this season.

“(Isakson), Russell and Wieker, I call them dead-eyes,” Rohrbach said. “They see the first couple go in, they might hit five or six. To have three guys that can do that is pretty special.”

Still, the Knights had a difficult time shaking Ipswich. While the Tigers were unable to mount a serious charge, they hung around for a good share of the second half.

“They’re a scrappy bunch. They’re well-disciplined,” Rohrbach said. “Coach Bohle has them working hard.”

Christian outrebounded Ipswich by 13 on the night, including numerous offensive rebounds which led to multiple scoring opportunities.

“We did give them some second and third chances. I don’t care who you play, especially a team that’s going to contend for a state title, when you give them second or third chances, that makes it tough on you,” Bohle said. “But I’ll go to battle with my guys any day of the week. Those guys never quit. They worked their butts off.”

Trevor Heinz led the Tigers with 16 points. Chet Peterson contributed eight points and five rebounds.

Wieker had 20 points, six rebounds, four assists and three steals, Russell finished with 14 points and seven rebounds, Isakson added 11 points, and Kaden Clark had 10 points for Christian.

The Knights, 15-1, can now check off a goal, but have much more they want to accomplish this season. Christian still has one LRC contest remaining, but owns a two-game lead in the conference standings.

“The conference games are always a lot of fun. It brings a lot of fans. It brings a lot of excitement,” Rohrbach said. “We’re obviously happy about the conference championship, but a lot of work to be done here.”

Christian plays at Aberdeen Roncalli Thursday night in what should be a unique atmosphere. Most of the players know each other well, because the two schools have a coop in football.

“I played football with some of those guys for six years, so definitely a little weird, but fun,” Isakson said. “Get to play against kind of a cross-town rival. Both teams will be ready to go and be playing hard, so it should be really fun.”

IPSWICH (10-4): Jace Konsor 2 1-3 5, Tyler Hettich 1 2-2 4, Ian Beyers 3 0-0 6, Trevor Heinz 7 0-0 16, Chet Peterson 3 1-4 8, Blake Rich 1 3-6 5, Carter Geditz 0 1-2 1. Totals 17 8-17 45.

ABERDEEN CHRISTIAN (15-1): Jackson Isakson  4 2-1 11, Ethan Russell 6 1-2 14, Malek Wieker 8 0-0 20, Kaden Clark 4 2-2 10, Abe Holscher 1 0-0 3, Konnar Furman 2 0-0 5, Ellis Russell 0 2-4 2. Totals 25 6-9 65.

Ipswich 14 24 32 45

Aberdeen Christian 13 34 48 65

3-point field goals – Heinz 2, Peterson; Isakson 2, Russell, Wieker 4, Holscher, Furman. Total fouls – Ipswich 12; Aberdeen Christian 14. Rebounds – Ipswich 18 (Peterson 5); Aberdeen Christian 31 (Russell 7, Wieker 6) . Turnovers – Ipswich 8; Aberdeen Christian 12. Assists – Ipswich 3; Aberdeen Christian10 (Wieker 4). Steals – Ipswich 6 (Beyers 3); Aberdeen Christian 7 (Wieker 3).