The size and experience of Aberdeen Roncalli paved the way for the Cavaliers to advance to the next round of the Region 1A boys’ basketball tournament Tuesday night.

The Cavaliers defeated Redfield 79-34 at Roncalli School Gym. The two faced each other in the first game of the year, a 63-34 Roncalli victory.

The Cavaliers knew they needed to get out to a fast start once again.

“I thought our guys came out to a fast start, did what they needed to,” said Roncalli coach Dan Gallagher. “Credit to our guys, because it’s easy to come into this game recognizing what happened the first time and maybe play with less intensity or less focus, but did a great job setting the tone from the start.”

Having already faced the Cavaliers, Redfield coach Lance Howe knew what his team was getting into in the first round of playoffs.

“They are very tough matchups when they’re as big as they are; 6-7, 6-7, guards that can shoot the ball, senior dominant,” said Howe. “We’re so young and get pushed off the ball. We knew we had our hands full. We were trying to, hopefully, push the ball, but they’re a much better team, that much quicker. They deserve the win, and I give them all the kudos in the world.”

The Cavaliers used the size gap between Parker Grieben and Cam Olson to their advantage as Olson had a game-high 16 points, and Grieben contributed seven.

“I thought (Olson) played really controlled today. Sometimes he’ll put up shots where he might have a kick out and I didn’t think there were really any shots he took today that weren’t really good shots,” Gallagher said. “He played really well within himself, within our offense and our guys recognized the advantage that was there and kept feeding him, and Cam just did his part.”

Olson knew the size advantage he possessed and scored eight straight points in the third quarter on four straight possessions.

“I found something that worked and I just kept using it until it didn’t work,” Olson said. “If I keep the ball above my head, they can’t reach it, so I can just chuck it up and it might go in, might not.”

Despite Roncalli’s size advantage, the Cavaliers still game planned for Pheasants guard Ruben Alvarez, who led the Pheasants with 14 points.

“We watched their last game against Aberdeen Christian and we were like we can’t give this guy any space. He’s the first player of this season that we’ve actually face guarded just because, you know, he stood out that much to us,” said Gallagher. “I thought Brody (Weinmeister) did a good job on him, but he was still able to create and get his own shot. So, heck of a player and to be able to come in from out of the country and still make the impact that he had, says a lot about him. Great player.”

Alvarez is an exchange student from Spain who enrolled at Redfield in the fall. He has made a lasting impact on the Pheasants’ program, especially for the young players, despite a short tenure in South Dakota.

“He was a great asset to us. We’ll miss him next year. He’ll be heading back to Spain. He was a foreign exchange student, and so the kids learned a lot,” said Howe. “We have some freshmen that started making plays like he was doing in practice, and he’s a great passer, he can see the court. So hopefully these young ones have learned from what he did and showed them throughout the year.”

Coming from Valladolid, Spain, Alvarez had to adjust to the different styles of basketball, but still found ways to help everyone around him find success.

“It’s a different style from Spain, so I had to adapt to this style, and I think I’ve been playing better the last games,” said Alvarez. “I usually try to see where my teammates are in every moment and try to pass to them in the perfect moment so they could score.”

Howe knows how special a player Alvarez is, getting everyone involved and not worrying about his own points.

“Ruben’s an all-around athlete. We haven’t had one like that for a while in Redfield. There’s a game he had 26 points, 15 rebounds, and 11 assists,” said Howe. “You don’t have kids like that very often. He’s a different athlete and it was a pleasure to coach a kid like that.”

With Tuesday being Redfield’s last game, and the final contest for Alvarez in the States, he’ll go back to Spain missing the Redfield community.

“Well, I’ll miss everyone, like my teammates, my classmates, all the parents and coaches and supporters,” said Alvarez. “I’ll miss all that, everyone.”

The Cavaliers, 10-11, will now host Milbank at 7 p.m. Friday with the winner advancing to next week’s SoDak 16. Milbank won a previous matchup 48-38 on its home court.

“We know that there’s a lot of motivation to get to play Milbank just because we know what happened last time,” Gallagher said. “We didn’t play near our best basketball, gave up a lot of second-chance opportunities, so it’s a chance to kind of crack some of those mistakes in what is a must-win situation.”

Aiden Fisher finished with 15 points for Roncalli, followed by his brother Austin Fisher with 10.

Redfield’s Micah Zastrow and Grady Hulscher accounted for six points each.

REDFIELD (2-19): Jackson Rude 1 0-0 3, Grady Hulscher 3 0-0 6, Micah Zastrow 3 0-0 6, Ruben Alvarez 5 1-3 14, Isaac Banister 1 0-0 3, Alex Shottenkirk 1 0-0 2. Totals 14 1-3 34.

ABERDEEN RONCALLI (10-11): Jesse Hernandez 3 0-0 8, Aiden Fisher 6 2-10 15, Sam Franks 2 0-0 5, Brody Weinmeister 3 0-0 6, Parker Grieben 3 1-2 7, Cam Olson 8 0-0 16, Sam Larson 1 0-0 3, Austin Fisher 4 0-1 10, Ezra Feickert 1 0-0 3, Jackson Lewno 1 0-0 3, Tom Niederbaumer 1 1-2 3. Totals 33 4-15 79.

Redfield 10 17 23 34

Aberdeen Roncalli 20 44 59 79

3 – point field goals – Rude, Alvarez 3, Banister; Hernandez 2, Aiden Fisher, Franks, Larson, Austin  Fisher 2, Feickert, Lewno. Total Fouls – Redfield 12; Aberdeen Roncalli 10.