On paper, Leola-Frederick was at a size disadvantage Thursday night, but on the court the Titans produced a major rebounding advantage to help secure a win over Aberdeen Christian.

Leola-Frederick hauled down 20 offensive rebounds, many which led to second-chance points, on the way to a 77-68 Lake Region Conference boys’ basketball win at the Aberdeen Civic Arena.

“You’re not going to win many games doing that,” said Christian coach Matt Rohrbach. “You’ve got to give them the credit. … Blame it on them being in more shape or wanting it more, but the reality was they got the extra second-chance points and the loose balls, and that’s really kind of what the game came down to.”

As lopsided as the rebounding was, Christian was still right in the game until the closing minutes.

Leola-Frederick was clinging to a 62-59 edge when a key four-point swing took place. Noah Kippley blocked a Christian shot one end of the floor and then drove the length of the court for a contested left-handed layup to extend the lead to five with 3:45 remaining.

“That was a big play, I guess,” Kippley said. “I was just doing my thing out there. … Just playing to the best of my ability I guess, just having fun.”

Kippley pushed the margin to seven points moments later on an up-and-under shot in the lane, but the Knights weren’t finished. Dylan Hofer spotted Grady Jett for a basket before Brooks Jett scored to close the gap to 66-63 with 2:07 left.

That set the stage for Gavin Nickelson, who hit a huge 3-pointer, his first basket since the early stages of the game, to swing the momentum back to the Titans for good. He then scored on Leola-Frederick’s next possession and added three free throws to help his team ice the win.

“I was open. I saw them closing in on me, so I shot it and it went in,” Nickelson said of his clutch three-point shot. “And then free throws are really big in pulling away.”

Nickelson, who hadn’t scored much to that point in the game, caught the Christian defense off guard.

“You’ve got to give credit to the kid wanting the moment and that’s what he wanted,” Rohrbach said. “That’s miscommunication on our part not being out there and at least making him think about it. Kudos to the kid for hitting it, and that’s the way basketball is sometimes.”

Kippley, who suffered a broken collarbone in football, came off the bench in his first game of the season and finished with a game-high 24 points. However, he had plenty of help on the evening as Nickelson finished with 14, Westyn Thorpe followed with 11, and Ethan Petrich contributed 10.

“It’s fun group, a fun team,” said Leola-Frederick coach Brock Pashen. “We like what we have and we like what we do and it’s just making sure …. we get better.”

While the Knights were able to handle Leola-Frederick’s relentless full-court pressure for the most part, it forced them to play at a faster pace than what they wanted.

“I think we were speeding ourselves up too much,” said Christian’s Luke Kaiser.

In the end, it was simply the Titans obtaining way more opportunities because of their work inside.

“Our coach stresses boxing out, rebounding,” Nickelson said, “and it gets us a lot of points.”

Brooks Jett led the Knights with 19 points, while Kaiser finished with 13. Jett Johnson and Hofer each contributed 11.

Offense was not really the issue for Christian, though, it was getting enough stops against the Titans.

“Most of their points came from second chances and once we clean that up we’ll be fine,” Kaiser said. “We just got to focus on Sisseton … and getting better at rebounding.”

Thursday’s contest had the intensity of a late-season playoff game from the opening whistle to the final minute.

“It’s a good game against a good team,” Pashen said.

And somewhere down the line, the contest will likely play a key role in power points.

“With those SoDak power points, March comes in December,” Pashen said.

It turned out to be a solid early-season test for both squads.

“Christian is definitely a very good team,” Kippley said. “They’re going to have a good year.”

Kaiser said the Knights plan to benefit from the setback and improve as the season progresses.

“I’d rather lose right now than later in the season and not learn,” Kaiser said. “We’ll learn from this loss and we’ll get better, and we’ll be ready for the playoffs.”

Christian takes on Sisseton at Roncalli on Saturday around 2:30 p.m. Leola-Frederick plays Waubay-Summit on Saturday.

LEOLA-FREDERICK (3-0): Westyn Thorpe 3 4-8 11, Gavin Nickelson 3 7-8 14, Winston Clark 1 0-0 3, Ethan Petrich 4 2-4 10, Jace Thorpe 1 1-1 4, Noah Kippley 9 4-4 24, Titus Kippley 3 1-4 7, Zander Hoffman 2 0-0 4. Totals 26 19-29 77.

ABERDEEN CHRISTIAN (1-1): Jet Johnson 4 0-0 11, Dylan Hofer 4 3-3 11, Luke Kaiser 6 0-0 13, Brooks Jett 9 1-1 19, Raymond Rodriguez-Martinez 1 0-0 2, Grady Jett 5 2-2 12. Totals 29 6-6 68.

Leola-Frederick 22 39 62 77

Aberdeen Christian 15 32 50 68

3-point field goals – W. Thorpe, Nickelson, Clark, J. Thorpe, Kippley 2; Johnson 3, Kaiser. Total fouls – Leola-Frederick 12; Aberdeen Christian 25. Rebounds – Leola-Frederick 45 (Petrich 11); Aberdeen Christian 33 (Ellis Russell 10, B. Jett 10). Turnovers – Leola-Frederick 6; Aberdeen Christian 13.