While most teams competing in a state basketball tournament have a key player or two to focus on, few have the composition that Aberdeen Christian features this year.

The Knights have a blend of players who contribute a variety of assets to the squad with nobody caring about individual statistics.

“I really think it comes down to the fact that they really just want to play hard for each other,” said Christian coach Matt Rohrbach. “Even if your team is void of talent, you can win a lot of games that way. I just couldn’t really be more proud of how day in and day out they communicate with each other and they want success for each other.”

Here is a capsule look at how unique Christian is: the Knights scored 55 points in a SoDak 16 victory with their leading scorer on the season (Brooks Jett) scoring just four points, it had a normal reserve player (Ethan Biel) hit eight 3-pointers in a game, has a post player (Ellis Russell) that doubles as a point guard averaging six assists per game, and has another reserve (Grady Jett) that Rohrbach said, “can be starting for a lot of teams.”

In short, it’s hard to pin point just which player could go off any given night.

“Dylan (Hofer) and Raymond (Rodriguez-Martinez) are just pests and they have energy, and they can handle the ball and get to the rim,” Rohrbach said. “You throw in guys like Ethan Biel and Jett Johnson who can shoot the ball. … Brooks who just kind of does everything. He’s our best off-ball defender and shot-blocker. And then you piece it all together with one of the strangest players in the state in Ellis Russell, in that he’s our post player and he’s also one of our point guards. … Luke Kaiser has really been coming into his own and is probably our best on-ball defender. … These guys all mesh so well.”

Interestingly enough, Christian entered the postseason after one of its most lopsided losses of the season at the hands of Groton, which is competing in this week’s State A tourney. Rohrbach wondered how his players would handle it. He quickly got his answer.

“The guys were so locked in on practice after that Groton game, because they’re like we hate this. We don’t like this taste in our mouth,” Rohrbach said. “I got my answer after that Groton game, and I’m like, you know what, we’re going to be alright. … I really feel like the guys have grown this year and you don’t necessarily grow if you don’t go through some trials and tribulations.”

As a result, Christian is the only team from Aberdeen still playing basketball. Rohrbach said he was asked recently how he felt about that.

“I guess I had never really even thought about that,” Rohrbach said. “We’re happy that our community can hopefully rally around us a little bit. I’d love to get know new fans that just want to come and watch Aberdeen basketball.”

The Knights, who face Dell Rapid St. Mary at 6 p.m. Thursday in the opening round of the tournament, have qualified for five of the last six state tourneys, but most of this year’s players have never played in one. Rohrbach wants them to be able to soak in the moment.

“It is not easy to make it to a state tournament and it’s not a given that these guys go to another state tournament,” Rohrbach said. “I hope that they just go out there and try to play their best, play as absolutely hard as they can for 32 minutes at a time, and let the rest kind of take care of itself.”

(Capsule previews on all of the State B teams will run on Thursday).