WARNER – Aberdeen Christian went inside to grab a lead, and then went outside to break the game open Tuesday night in Warner.

The Knights used a 40-13 second half to surge past Warner 67-35 in Lake Region Conference boys’ basketball action.

“The kids really bought in tonight,” said Christian coach Matt Rohrbach. “Their energy was relentless. I was very proud of them.”

It was Brooks Jett who set the tone early for the Knights. The sophomore repeatedly scored in the lane for 15 first-half points to take Christian to a five-point halftime advantage.

“I knew I had to step up a little bit and be a bigger role on the team this year,” Jett said, “and that’s what I tried to do.”

Warner made sure Jett didn’t have a repeat performance in the second half, holding the sophomore scoreless, but the other Christian players came through, nailing eight 3-pointers to pull away.

“He’s a good player. We didn’t necessarily match up that well with some of their length,” said Warner coach Derek Hoellein. “Obviously, he hurt us in the first half and we made some adjustments in the second half, but some of the other guys hit some shots.”

The Knights knew that Jett was going to be the focus of attention in the second half.

“We all knew going into the locker room, we were telling Brooks you’re going to get a lot of eyes this half, so let’s make the right decision and he did,” Rohrbach said. “He was crucial out there.”

Jett found teammates for open looks and they took advantage of it, mostly from distance as the Knights pulled away.

“I didn’t have good looks so I was trying to get my teammates open, get them the ball,” Jett said. “They were knocking down shots.”

Meanwhile, the Monarchs’ offense dried up in the second half as the hosts managed just four points in the third quarter and nine more in the fourth.

“That’s a very good basketball team there. … We played right with them the first half and then they kind of shut us down offensively,” said Warner’s Drew Bakeberg. “We really couldn’t do much.”

Hoellein was satisfied with the looks his team got, but the Monarchs were unable to connect.

“Against that zone we had quite a few open looks,” Hoellein said, “we just didn’t execute and didn’t hit tonight.”

The Knights received 3-pointers from five different players in the fourth quarter as they began putting them in from all angles.

“Shooting is contagious,” Rohrbach said. “You see a couple of guys hit it and pretty soon you’re like I want my chance, too.”

Christian has a relatively knew squad of players from a year ago, but the Knights appeared like they had been playing together for years in their season opener.

“I think we’ve really been connecting well … focusing on being teammates, being brothers,” Jett said. “We really want to play as a team and I think we showed that tonight.”

Bakeberg had a game-high 19 points to lead Warner, now 1-1 on the season. He said his team played hard throughout the contest.

“Our effort is very, very good. Our young guys like to play basketball,” Bakeberg said. “We like to go. We usually like to press, but they broke our press pretty easy, but our effort tonight all around I’d say was pretty good.”

Luke Kaiser added 14 points to the Christian total, all in the second half. Jett Johnson followed with nine, while Raymond Rodriguez-Martinez and Grady Jett each added seven.

The Knights host Leola-Frederick on Thursday night at the Aberdeen Civic Arena.

“I feel like we’re similar in some ways of how we both play,” Rohrbach said, “and I really think it’s just going to come down to energy once again.”

ABERDEEN CHRISTIAN (1-0): Jett Johnson 3 0-0 9, Dylan Hofer 3 0-0 6, Ellis Russell 1 1-2 3, Luke Kaiser 6 1-1 14, Brooks Jett 7 1-1 15, Raymond Rodriguez-Martinez 3 0-0 7, Ethan Biel 1 0-0 3, Grady Jett 3 0-0 7 Daniel Opdahl 1 0-0 3. Totals 29 3-4 67.

WARNER (1-1): Jesiah Baum 3 1-4 7, Drew Bakeberg 7 3-8 19, Noah Bakeberg 2 0-0 4, Alec Mikkelson 0 2-1 1, Brennan Wolf-Donat 0 1-2 1, Brayden Kroll 1 0-0 2, Lincoln Buisker 0 1-2 1. Totals 13 7-18 35.

Aberdeen Christian 13 27 43 67

Warner 10 22 26 35

3-point field goals – Johnson 3, Kaiser, Rodriguez-Martinez, Biel, G. Jett, Opdahl; D. Bakeberg 2. Total fouls – Aberdeen Christian 16; Warner 15. Rebounds – Aberdeen Christian 37 (B. Jett 11, Russell 10); Warner 27 (D. Bakeberg 9). Turnovers – Aberdeen Christian 9; Warner 16.