Aberdeen Christian established a lead early and held off a furious comeback late to knock off unbeaten Potter County Saturday evening at the Christian School Gym.

The fourth-rated Knights nailed a dozen three-pointers, including the sixth and final one by Malek Wieker in the closing seconds to put the finishing touches on a 51-46 non-conference boys’ basketball victory.

While Christian never trailed after the opening minutes of the game, things got a bit tight down the stretch as the Battlers applied full-court pressure. Soon, the Knights had watched their 10-point lead with 2:35 remaining evaporate down to just two points.

Potter County elected not to foul in the closing seconds with a four-second difference between the game clock and the shot clock. Wieker’s three-pointer iced the decision and gave the Knights an important win.

“He’s so good with the ball. We wanted to keep the ball in his hands there at the end,” said Christian coach David Rohrbach said. “If they weren’t going to foul we wanted it to hopefully have it at least hit the rim where they had to throw a desperation heave with maybe one second on the clock. Better yet, he made a huge three at the end that iced it.”

Christian opened up a 14-point lead in the second quarter thanks to the hot shooting of Abe Holscher. The junior came off the bench and provided 11 first-half points, including three three-point field goals.

“I just came out with confidence,” Holscher said. “I have to thank my teammates for getting me open shots.”

Holscher finished with a career-high 16 points. His fourth and final three-pointer provided just enough of a cushion to keep the Knights in front down the stretch.

“Abe played phenomenal tonight, coming off the bench giving us a huge spark, hitting some big shots, timely buckets,” Rohrbach said. “In a close game like that every bucket counts. For him to have his career high in an intense game that we needed, obviously I’m really proud of him.”

It turned out the Knights needed every point they came up with as Potter County cranked up the heat with their full-court pressure defense.

“That kind of really helped us out,” said Potter County coach Bryce Hall. “We were able to get them hurried up a couple times.”

Soon, Christian’s offensive rhythm was gone and the Battlers were gaining ground.

“Anytime you play Potter County you know you’re in for a physical battle, you’re in for a full-court game, because they keep the pressure on the entire game,” Rohrbach said. “We didn’t play the smartest at times. I thought their pressure got to us a couple times in the game. Credit to them. They played very hard. They make you earn everything. You have to match their physicality for sure.”

In the end, Christian made just enough plays to close out the intense battle.

“Everyone just kept their cool, stayed confident and just took care of the ball at the end there,” Holscher said. “That’s what got it done.”

Wieker led the Knights with 22 points and Ethan Russell followed right behind with 21.

“They’re a very balanced team. They’ve got shooters all over,” Hall said. “They’re probably one of the more balanced teams we’ve faced so far.”

Cooper Logan led all scorers with 28 points for the Battlers, 6-1 on the season. He made all 12 of his free throws and also hauled down a dozen rebounds. Grant Luikens contributed 16 points and nine rebounds.

“They obviously have a couple of real good players in Luikens and Logan. We knew it wasn’t going to be easy,” Rohrbach said. “Definitely one you really want to get just knowing they’re going to have such a good record as the year goes and really need it for seed points.”

Christian, 6-2 on the year, is now in an important week of the season which sees the Knights facing once-beaten Faulkton on Tuesday at the school, once-beaten Waubay-Summit Thursday at the Civic Arena, and once-beaten Platte-Geddes Saturday at the Hanson Classic at the Corn Palace in Mitchell.

“We’ve talked to the boys about this is a big week for us, Saturday through Saturday ending with the Hanson Classic,” Rohrbach said, “and how we need to really approach it right and make sure that we’re coming out with a really good effort every night.”

POTTER COUNTY (6-1): Cooper Logan 8 12-12 28, Seth Sharp 2 2-3 6, Grant Luikens 7 1-5 16, Drake Bassett 2 1-8 6. Totals 19-45 16-28 56.

ABERDEEN CHRISTIAN (6-2): Jackson Isakson 0 2-2 2, Ethan Russell 9 1-2 21, Malek Wieker 7 2-5 22, Abe Holscher 5 2-2 16. Totals 21-50 7-11 61.

Potter County 6 22 37 56

Aberdeen Christian 19 31 47 61

3-point field goals – Luikens, Bassett; Russell 2, Wieker 6, Holscher 4. Total fouls – Potter County 12; Aberdeen Christian 23. Rebounds – Potter County 33 (Logan 12, Luikens 9); Aberdeen Christian 37 (Russell 8, Wieker 7, Kaden Clark 7). Turnovers – Potter County 7; Aberdeen Christian 14.