Several streaks came to an end at the Aberdeen Civic Arena Friday night.

With Waverly-South Shore’s 54-45 win over Aberdeen Christian in Region 1B boys’ basketball, it marks the first time the Coyotes have advanced to the field of final 16 teams since 2003, and it also halts Christian’s streak of four straight appearances in the SoDak 16.

While the Knights had the home-court advantage, the teams entered the contest with identical records and a two-point loss to Christian earlier in the season on the same floor gave the Coyotes confidence heading into the contest.

“We knew that we were a top 16 team, because we played with Aberdeen Christian the first time really well and they were getting talked about and even received a vote (in the poll),” said Waverly-South Shore junior Colton Kranz, “so we knew since we were right there with them, we should be in that conversation, too, and we wanted it.”

With the contest on the line, the Coyotes rose to the challenge. The visitors scored the first nine points of the fourth-quarter to break a 32-32 tie and put all of the pressure squarely on the Knights.

“They came down the court and they kind of caught fire, and props to their coach obviously, very talented and props to their players,” said Christian senior Joey Johnson. “They just stepped up.”

Trailing down the stretch, the Knights were forced to foul. The strategy worked, because Waverly-South Shore missed one free throw after another, but they continued to collect one offensive rebound after another to get multiple chances and eventually made enough free throws to put the game away.

“There was a span where they missed five and we got one of the five on their end when they were shooting those free throws,” said Christian coach Aaron Moeller. “That hurt us. If there was any chance of a comeback, that kind of sealed it for us.”

It was Kranz that put the Knights into a hole they weren’t able to crawl out of, nailing a three-point field goal as the shot clock was winding down to give his team that nine-point advantage.

“We knew that we needed to capitalize where we could, make all the open shots we could,” Kranz said. “That three, it was winding down on the shot clock. I knew I had to get something up. I was just like alright, this is the open shot, six seconds left on the shot clock, this is what we get, and it went in.”

Perhaps the biggest key in the game is that the Coyotes were able to slow down Johnson in the paint. They made an adjustment defensively and surrounded him whenever he was able to touch the ball inside.

“I think I had eight films on Aberdeen and that Johnson was a stud last time we played them,” said Waverly-South Shore coach Joe Dalton. “I said we have to front him, we have to bug him. I said if he’s out on a three, get a high hand. I said he’s going to make shots. He’s good.”

Johnson still finished with a game-high 21 points, but 12 of them came on four 3-pointers, including two banked in shots.

“He was banking them from all over. My big guy came over and (said) what do I do?” Dalton said. “I said nothing. That’s perfect. He’s going to make ‘em, he’s going to make ‘em.”

The Coyotes tweaked their normal 2-3 zone defense a bit to focus on Johnson and the move paid off in a major way.

“Props to them. They put together obviously a great game plan,” Johnson said. “They made it real difficult to score inside and that’s kind of what we do.”

The outcome also snapped one other streak for Dalton, who had never won a game at the Civic Arena before. Included in his prior setbacks was a double-overtime loss to Christian a few years ago, and an overtime loss to Northwestern in which the Coyotes owned an 18-point lead at one stage.

“We were due,” Dalton said. “We were happy to get the monkey off.”

Zach Ries scored 17 points to lead three players in double figures for Waverly-South Shore, 16-6 on the season. Kranz contributed 15, and Sam Appelhof added 11.

The Coyotes will face once-beaten Wessington Springs in the SoDak 16 on Tuesday.

“We were screaming in the locker room,” Dalton said. “I said I have one word for us this week guys: Cinderella.”

Bosma added 11 points to the Christian total.

The Knights ended the year at 15-7, despite a new coach and a whole new starting five this season.

“I really feel like they exceeded expectations,” Moeller said, “so I just wanted to say that I’m super proud of the guys and they represented Aberdeen Christian extremely well with the way they act on the court.”

The contest was the final one for Johnson, who capped off a memorable senior season that featured multiple 30-point games, including a school-record 48 points in one single contest.

“That’s what it is at the end of the day. People forget who won and lost, but it’s all about making those memories,” Johnson said. “Props to my coaches and everyone, starting with David Rohrbach, Matt Rohrbach, everyone including Coach Moeller really turned me into the person I am today, and I have a lot of thanks, and I’m really just thankful for the opportunity I got this year.”

With only one senior on the team, Moeller is excited about the future of Knights basketball.

“I really feel like Aberdeen Christian has a reputation for good basketball and I feel like these guys did that this year,” Moeller said, “and I feel like we’re going to continue to do that in the years to come.”

WAVERLY-SOUTH SHORE (16-6): Cody Thompson 2 0-0 4, Kyle Kneeland 1 0-0 2, Sam Appelhof 3 4-11 11, Colton Kranz 4 6-12 15, Brody Eschen 2 0-0 4, Zach Ries 6 3-6 17. Totals 18-33 13-29 54.

ABERDEEN CHRISTIAN (15-7): Becker Bosma 4 0-0 11, Konnar Furman 1 0-0 2, Brooks Jett 2 2-2 6, Joey Johnson 8 1-1 21, Luke Kaiser 1 1-2 3, Grady Jett 1 0-0 2. Totals 17-46 4-5 45.

Waverly-South Shore 13 19 32 54

Aberdeen Christian 8 22 32 45

3-point field goals – Kneeland, Appelhof, Kranz, Ries (2); Bosma (3), Johnson (4). Fouled out – B. Jett, Kaiser. Total fouls – Waverly-South Shore 8; Aberdeen Christian 23. Rebounds – Wavery-South Shore 27 (Appelhof 8, Ries 8); Aberdeen Christian 24 (B. Jett 6, Russell 6). Turnovers – Waverly-South Shore 13; Aberdeen Christian 15.