Aberdeen Christian got the ball inside and left Herreid-Selby Area on the outside looking in Tuesday night.

The Knights used their size to obtain high-percentage shots to fuel a 62-42 non-conference boys’ basketball victory at the Christian School Gym.

“It was mostly our posts,” said Christian’s Luke Kaiser. “They would get doubled so they would get everyone good looks, so it was mainly our posts. They did a good job of getting us open shots.”

The sophomore took a cue from the coaching staff about driving to the basket.

“Our coaching wants us to get to the rim hard and not settle for threes,” Kaiser said, “and getting the layups that we can get.”

Kaiser finished the night shooting 9-of-14 from the field on the way to a career-high 18 points.

“He kind of started us out. He kind of went bananas there for a little bit in the first quarter,” said Christian coach Matt Rohrbach. “The funny part is he was sick, so we weren’t sure what we were going to get from him. … He’s a special player and can get to the rack.”

The Knights consistently got the ball into the lane where their size of multiple 6-foot-3 or taller players took a toll on the visitors.

“They’re one of the better interior passing teams that I’ve seen in quite a few years,” said Herreid-Selby Area coach Chris Hettick. “They don’t shoot the ball great from the outside, but they really finish well. If they get shots in the paint, they’re going to make them from what I watched on film.”

Christian quickly built a double-digit lead in the first quarter and then played with it the entire night. However, the Wolverines never quit. HSA sliced a 20-point deficit down to 44-30 early in the fourth quarter.

“I didn’t think it was as close as it was,” Kaiser said. “They’ll be pretty good in two years. They’ve got a lot of young kids.”

The Wolverines hung around thanks in part to the inside play of Xavier Ritter, who scored 11 second-half points. The junior finished with 12 points and 10 rebounds.

“He does a nice job,” Hettick said. “We probably don’t get him the ball enough, because we don’t take care of it well enough or we don’t enter it into him on time.”

Ritter, who is 6-3 himself, found himself surrounded by a group of players even taller than him on both ends of the floor.

“It was tough. I’ve never really experienced it yet this year,” Ritter said, “but we’ve just got to move as a team and kind of separate the bigger guys and create the open space.”

Finding that open space is harder than it looks against the taller Knights.

“They’re just big. They’re wide. Passing lanes are pretty tough,” Ritter said. “It’s just tough to create offense or stop them.”

As for Ritter’s ability to collect rebounds, he referred back to what Hettick teaches in practice.

“In practice coach is always big about punch, pivot, pursue, so boxing out is a big key,” Ritter said. He explained the technique as “punch your guy, box him out, and go jump for the ball.”

In the end, the Knights were simply too much to handle in the lane for the Wolverines.

“They’re big. That’s why they’re so good interior passing, is they can take it and they see over the top of everything and they do a nice job cutting without the ball,” Hettick said. “They’re well-coached. Credit to them.”

The Knights consistently made the extra pass to find open players, most of them right near the basket. Rohrbach said each game takes on feel of its own.

“We’re still trying to put some of the pieces of what that unselfish basketball looks like, because it does look different every game, from a standpoint of what the defense is going to give us,” Rohrbach said. “Credit to the guys, willing to make the extra pass inside, and that’s not always easy to do when you’re around the rim.”

The contest marked a rare game at the Christian School Gym for the Knights, who normally play at the Aberdeen Civic Arena.

“I feel the court is more open to running and our team does a good job in the open court,” Kaiser said. “We’ve been doing a good job getting ahead of the break.”

Ellis Russell added 10 points to the Christian total, while Brooks Jett finished with eight.

The Knights, 7-3 on the year, take on Western Christian of Iowa at the Sanford Pentagon on Saturday.

Keegan Russell contributed nine points to the HSA total.

The Wolverines have just one senior on the squad this season.

“We’re just trying to build our team for next year and build for the future,” Ritter said. “It’s tough right now, but we’re learning as a team.”

HERREID-SELBY AREA (4-7): Noah Schuetzle 2 0-0 5, Jared Weisbeck 3 0-0 6, Tatum Quaschnick 2 0-0 5, Xavier Ritter 5 2-3 12, Keegan Russell 3 3-3 9, Thatcher Kihne 1 0-0 3, Timothy Rueb 1 0-0 2. Totals 17-41 5-6 42.

ABERDEEN CHRISTIAN (8-3): Jett Johnson 2 0-0 5, Dylan Hofer 3 1-1 7, Ellis Russell 4 2-3 10, Luke Kaiser 9 0-0 18, Brooks Jett 4 0-1 8, Raymond Rodriquez-Martinez 1 1-2 3, Ethan Biel 1 0-0 2, Grady Jett 3 0-0 7, Lincoln Kaiser 1 0-0 2. Totals 28-55 4-7 62.

Herreid-Selby Area 6 17 38 42

Aberdeen Christian  19 31 44 62

3-point field goals – Schuetzle, Quaschnick, Kihne; Johnson, G. Jett. Total fouls – Herreid-Selby Area 8; Aberdeen Christian 6. Rebounds – Herreid-Selby Area 29 (Ritter 10); Aberdeen Christian 31 (Luke Kaiser 6, Russell 6). Turnovers – Herreid-Selby Area 17; Aberdeen Christian 9.