A strong second quarter lifted Aberdeen Christian to victory on Tuesday night as the Knights held off Northwestern 67-57 in a Region 1B boys’ basketball tournament contest at the Aberdeen Civic Arena.

The Knights used a 23-6 second-quarter outburst to pull away from a four-point opening-quarter lead.

“The second quarter was obviously the best quarter; I would even say the whole first half,” said Christian coach Aaron Moeller. “We held them to 18 in that first half and, of course, that’s our goal, under 10 a quarter, and we did that.”

A dozen of Christian’s 23 points in the quarter came from senior Joey Johnson, who cashed in on four 3-pointers.

“I think their strategy was just to kind of let me shoot, and usually it works, but for some reason tonight I was making them, so that was good,” Johnson said. “Once I hit a few I was like, ah I’ll just keep going until I miss.”

Meanwhile, the Knights stifled the Wildcats, limiting the visitors to just six second-quarter points.

“We were hanging in there,” said Wildcats coach Anthony Redman. “We knew it was going to be a battle, but our guys fought in that first quarter. Then, of course, being Aberdeen Christian, they’re good kids, great players, and a well-coached team. They made shots when they needed to and that’s how they got that big lead.”

Northwestern had matched Christian seemingly basket for basket in the first quarter, trailing 16-12 after the opening period before the Knights pulled away.

“We knew they liked that zone defense, so we tried to plan around that,” said Northwestern senior Lincoln Woodring. “I thought we were hitting some shots and had a good game plan coming in, which really helped.”

Fellow Northwestern senior Nathan Melius said he and the other seniors had a “last game mentality” despite the deficit they faced in the second quarter.

“We just had to keep our heads up, I mean, they were running away from us, but we kind of stuck with them,” Melius said. “That last game mentality just hit in and got us seniors going a little bit on the scoring end, but we were just playing together and playing for our lives.”

That last game mentality became evident at the start of the third quarter as Northwestern scored the first eight points of the half, cutting the 21-point deficit down to 13 in just under three minutes. Moeller said his team got a bit stagnant early in the second half.

“We weren’t executing on offense,” Moeller said. “(Northwestern) went from man to zone in that second half, and then we weren’t doing things that we need to be doing against the zone; the way the ball moves, the way people dive to the basket, some different action that we’re supposed to be getting out of that. I think with the big lead we became complacent and we can’t do that.”

Throughout the night, Johnson had to contend with Northwestern’s 6-foot-5 center Dallas Stoltenberg, who was out for most of the season with an injury. The junior did not play against the Knights earlier in the season, and Johnson said he noticed the presence of the lengthy Wildcat.

“He’s got long arms and it’s kind of difficult. Sometimes you’ll get past him and then all of a sudden, you’re getting swatted from behind,” Johnson said. “It’s definitely an adjustment for sure, and it caught me off guard a little bit in the first half, but the second half we were able to figure it out and get into our groove.”

Redman praised Stoltenberg for his contribution to the game.

“He’s a big piece to this family here,” Redman said. “When we have him, you can tell. He’s a leader, he’s a defender, he has a really (high) IQ, and to have him out there, that helps, and so, him being out there helped us tonight.”

Despite the Wildcats finishing the game on a 12-2 run, the deficit was too much to overcome, as the Knights were able to keep the double-digit lead and finish the off the victory.

“We just kind of played basket for basket really in the fourth quarter,” Moeller said. “Obviously, I subbed there at the end and it went from 17 to 10 really quickly, but that’s fine. We got a couple kids in playoff basketball, so that’s good.”

Melius led Northwestern, which finished its season with a 5-16 record, with 28 points. He said he wanted to fight for his team to the very end.

“I was just trying to do what I’ve been doing my whole career,” Melius said. “Just working my butt off until the very end and doing it only for the guys. I just love the guys and I’d do anything for them.”

Woodring finished with 17 points. The senior described what it means to wear the Northwestern Wildcat uniform.

“It means we’re going to play our hardest every night,” Woodring said. “Every night we go out there you’re going to play your hardest, you’re going to play as a team, and we always talk about how we have a family here, and everyone plays for each other. No one plays for themselves, and we want the team success first. We put the team success first and the individual success second, so that’s what it means to me.”

In addition to Melius and Woodring, Northwestern senior Dawson Ward finished with four points. Redman said the three seniors mean a lot to him.

“They mean so much. They’ve been a part of this program since they were in sixth grade. They’ve been my water boys,” Redman said. “It’s tough because you build a connection and a relationship with these kids all these years and you get to see them from little, and then you get to see them be young men. With every player it’s hard, and you try to prepare them for life right after this, and hopefully they’re going to be fathers and they’re going to be husbands. Me and Coach (Wade Rozell) did the best that we can and we know that they’re going to be those things in the future.”

Johnson finished with a game-high 31 points, while Konnar Furman and Luke Kaiser totaled 12 and 10, respectively.

The Knights (15-6) will now host Waverly-South Shore at 7 p.m. Friday. The two teams played a close contest in late January, with Christian edging out the Coyotes 36-34 at the Civic Arena.

Johnson said the team knows what it must do as moving forward.

“Work hard at practice, get our game plan ready, and hopefully get another win and keep going,” Johnson said. “Just taking it one game at a time.”

NORTHWESTERN (5-16): Lincoln Woodring 5 2-2 17, Dawson Ward 2 0-0 4, Jack Hansen 1 0-0 2, Dallas Stoltenberg 2 0-0 4, Nathan Melius 10 4-5 28, Carson Ewalt 1 0-0 2. Totals 21 6-7 57.

ABERDEEN CHRISTIAN (15-6): Becker Bosma 3 1-2 8, Konnar Furman 5 2-2 12, Brooks Jett 3 0-0 6, Joey Johnson 11 5-7 31, Luke Kaiser 4 0-2 10. Totals 26 8-16 67.

Northwestern 12 18 33 57

Aberdeen Christian 16 39 50 67

3-point field goals – Woodring (5), Melius (2); Johnson (4), Kaiser (2), Bosma. Total fouls – Northwestern 12; Aberdeen Christian 9.