In a game where points were at a premium, Freeman always owned the leverage over Aberdeen Christian Friday afternoon at Wachs Arena.

The Flyers possessed a slight lead and made just enough plays to maintain it in a 52-44 win in consolation round action during the Class B State Boys’ Basketball Tournament.

Playing without leading scorer David Walter, Freeman had other players contribute just enough for a hard-fought win.

“Everybody picked up the slack a little bit,” said Freeman coach Lance Friesen. “I called it a culture win, showing off our program.”

The Flyers grabbed a lead they never lost midway through the second quarter. That lead ranged from as little as one point to as much as seven points until the final seconds of play.

With Walter sidelined with an illness, Tayden Kerrigan knew he would have to pick up his game a touch and did so with 14 points to go along with a high-game six steals.

“He’s a great rebounder, too,” Kerrigan said of Walter. “I just went into the game thinking I’ve got to take over a little bit and still facilitate a little bit. But, hit some shots and it worked out.”

Kerrigan has a feathery soft shot that always seems to have a chance to go in, even when it hits the rim.

“I spend a lot of time on it,” Kerrigan said. “I put a lot of time in and that’s what you get. That’s a good result.”

Meanwhile, Christian could not buy a basket. While the Knights always maintained contact, they could not string possessions together and had a difficult time at the free-throw line, shooting just 6 of 17 in the second half.

“19 turnovers, 11 missed free throws and it felt like at least 10-12 layups that we couldn’t get to go. That’s basketball,” said Christian coach Matt Rohrbach. “I know how much the kids want to finish and how much they want it. You just feel bad for them that unfortunately we weren’t able to finish enough to get the win.”

Down the stretch the Knights were never able to get the margin to three points while possessing the ball for a chance to tie. They made enough shots to stay close, but never enough to get over the hump.

“We can’t really control shots going in some of the time,” said Christian’s Luke Kaiser.

In the end, when the Flyers needed a key basket it was Tate Sorensen who delivered.

“It had to be. No one else could create their shot and we weren’t very good at creating,” Friesen said. “We believe in create an advantage, keep an advantage, and keep attacking space. We could do that a little bit other than Sorensen, but we just couldn’t quite make that pass to keep the advantage even. It was just limited. That’s a credit to them for being long and athletic and well-coached. Tate’s the guy we had to run through down the stretch.”

He produced a pair of clutch field goals to keep Freeman in control.

Meanwhile, Christian was battling foul trouble as both Brooks Jett and Ellis Russell each had four fouls, which limited their aggressiveness on both ends of the floor.

“It’s tough not having Brooks and Ellis all the time,” Kaiser said, “because when they get in foul trouble it’s kind of hard, because they’re our two best boarders, so it’s kind of a hard to get a board and they’re our two best post defenders.”

Both sides produced maximum effort, diving for loose balls and fighting for every possession in the close contest.

“Both teams were working so hard that there wasn’t a lot of adjustments to really make,” Rohrbach said, “and that’s what you want here at the state tournament, is guys just playing as hard as they can every possession.”

In the end, the Flyers made enough plays to walk away with the victory.

“I give them a lot of credit,” Kerrigan said of the Knights. “They were hustling for the boards. We had a couple of guys hustling, too.”

Sorensen led Freeman with 17 points, and Luke Peters contributed 12.

The Flyers, 20-5 on the season, will face Wall for fifth place at 1:45 p.m. today following a solid win over the Knights.

“It was a really nice win, because they’re a really good team,” Friesen said. “I’m glad that they’re still playing for something, because frankly the off-season vibe’s a lot different if you win one or two, or you go home without one.”

Jett finished with 16 points and 16 rebounds to lead Christian, and Kaiser added 12 points.

The Knights, 18-7, will try to cap off the year with a win against Lyman in the seventh place game today at noon.

“You want to send the seniors out the right way,” Rohrbach said. “We’ve got three of them and we want to obviously win the last game for them. The guys get another opportunity to play.”

FREEMAN (20-5): Tayden Kerrigan 6 2-3 14, Luke Miller 1 1-2 4, Luke Peters 3 5-10 12, Tate Sorensen 7 2-3 17, Christopher Aasen 1 0-0 3, Oliver Waltner 1 0-0 2. Totals 19-40 10-18 52.

ABERDEEN CHRISTIAN (18-7): Dylan Hofer 3 0-0 6, Ellis Russell 1 1-2 3, Luke Kaiser 4 3-6 12, Brooks Jett 6 4-11 16, Ethan Biel 1 0-0 3, Grady Jett 2 0-0 4. Totals 17-49 8-19 44.

Freeman 12 27 36 52

Aberdeen Christian 13 23 34 44

3-point field goals – Miller, Peters, Sorensen, Aasen; Kaiser, Biel. Fouled out – Freeman, Wipf. Total fouls – Freeman 19; Aberdeen Christian 17. Rebounds – Freeman 28 (Sorensen 7); Aberdeen Christian 32 (Jett 16). Turnovers – Freeman 20; Aberdeen Christian 19. Assists – Freeman 10 (Kerrigan 3, Sorensen 3); Aberdeen Christian 8 (Kaiser 3, Russell 2, G. Jett 2). Blocked shots – Freeman 1; Aberdeen Christian 5 (B. Jett 2). Steals – Freeman 12 (Kerrigan 6, Miller 3); Aberdeen Christian 9 (B. Jett 3, Russell 2).