BROOKINGS – The Bobcats rallied from a six-point third-quarter deficit to beat Aberdeen Central, 55-51, at Bob Jostad Gymnasium on Friday night in both teams’ season opener.

After a first quarter that resulted in 11 turnovers and just 12 points (6-6), the teams gained some rhythm in the second and went into intermission tied at 24-24.

Three free throws by Jay Wilber tied the score at 35-35 with 3:14 to play in the third before the Golden Eagles went on a 6-0 run to go up 41-35 with 1:15 left.

Colten Hansen made a free throw; missed the second; and then, buried a 3-pointer after Reece Burckhard pulled down the offensive rebound and kicked it back out to Hansen.

The Bobcats pulled back within four when Trevor Woodall converted an offensive board to beat the buzzer to end the frame.

Brookings put together a 7-0 run to open the fourth to retake the lead as Drew Cole went 1-for-2 from the foul line; Wilber scored in traffic; and then, Cole converted an old-fashioned three-point play for a 44-41 lead with just under 6 minutes to play.

Austin Huff knocked down a trey to tie the game for the seventh time before Trey Harms gave the Eagles a 46-44 edge.

Four straight Bobcat free throws – two by Carson Gullickson and two by Cole – followed by another Cole basket, put Brookings up four at 50-46 just inside of 4 minutes.

Central cut the deficit to one on a charity toss by Andrew Bergan and two from Burckhard, but Cole scored down low and Wilber added a free throw to make it 53-49 with 2:44 on the clock.

Bergan converted two more free throws to pull Central within a basket with 1:47 left and then the Bobcats turned the ball over twice to give the Eagles a chance to tie.

But two 3-point attempts came up empty and Cole made it a two-possession game with 11 seconds left and Central couldn’t get a shot off before the final buzzer sounded.

The Eagles held a 46-33 edge in rebounding as Bergan posted a double-double of 18 points and 15 boards, but finished just 14-of-50 from the field (28 percent).

Cole led a balanced Bobcat attack with 19 points, as Trent Brosieck chipped in with 12 and Wilber and Eric Sell added 10 apiece.

“It’s not how we drew it up… all the foul trouble,” said Bobcat head coach Travis Engebretson of his team’s four-point win. “The word that we wrote on the board for the week and have been talking about was resiliency – things did not go well – we gave up a lot of offensive rebounds, but the kids just stuck with it. We fell down six; battled back; and just showed a lot of resiliency.

“They stepped up – early in the season, you don’t know how guys are going to respond, but (Parker) Rykhus and (Theo) Burns came in there and gave us great minutes. Obviously, you aren’t going to see it in the stat line, but they came in, played sound defense – Theo was guarding a big post player and did a nice job; Parker out guarding one of the better offensive players in the state and did a good job, too.”

Brookings plays at Harrisburg on Tuesday at 7 p.m.

BROOKINGS 55, ABERDEEN CENTRAL 51

Aberdeen Central (0-1, 0-1 ESD)

Andrew Bergan 5-20 5-6 18, Ben LaPointe 0-0 1-2 1, Seth Martens 1-1 0-2 2, Jordan Schnaidt 1-5 4-4 6, Trey Harms 2-8 2-2 6, Austin Huff 1-7 0-2 3, Reece Burckhard 2-4 4-8 9, Truman Allam 0-0 0-0 0, Colton Hansen 2-5 1-2 6. Totals 14-50 17-28 51.

Brookings (1-0, 1-0 ESD)

Eric Sell 4-8 1-4 10, Drew Cole 7-15 5-7 19, Jay Wilber 2-6 5-7 10, Trevor Woodall 1-5 0-0 2, Trent Broksieck 4-9 2-2 12, Parker Beers 0-2 0-0 0, Parker Rykhus 0-0 0-0 0, Carson Gullickson 0-1 2-2 2, Ryan Treiber 0-1 0-0 0, Theo Burns 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 18-48 15-22 55.

Aberdeen Central 6  18  17  10  –  51

Brookings 6  18  13  18  –  55

3-point goals – AC 6-19 (Bergan 3-10, Schnaidt 0-1, Harms 0-3, Huff 1-3, Burckhard 1-1, Hansen 1-1); B 4-23 (Sell 1-3, Cole 0-5, Wilber 1-5, Woodall 0-1, Broksieck 2-6, Beers 0-1, Treiber 0-1, Burns 0-1). Rebounds – AC 46 (Bergan 15); B 33 (Sell 6). Assists – AC 6 (Martens 2); B 4 (Sell, Woodall, Broksieck, Treiber). Steals – AC 6 (Bergan 3); B 7 (Sell 4). Blocks – AC 2 (Bergan, Burckhard); B 4 (Sell 3). Turnovers – AC 16; B 15. Total fouls – AC 20; B 25. Fouled out – Woodall. Technical fouls – None.

Junior varsity

ABERDEEN CENTRAL 52, BROOKINGS 50

Points – Sean Roiger 13, Jonah Dobbs 12, Jackson Krogman 8, Parker Rykhus 8. Rebounds – Tanner Shepardson 5, Rykhus 4, Krogman 3, Theo Burns 3. Assists – Shepardson 2. Steals – Dobbs 2, Shepardson 2. Blocks – Krogman 1, Shepardson 1.

Sophomore

ABERDEEN CENTRAL 53, BROOKINGS 35

Points – Nick Schefers 12, Henry Hammrich 10, Casey Woodall 4. Rebounds – Jackson Krogman 5, Noah Bayer 4, Max Struck 4. Assists – Schaffer Vestal 2. Steals – Woodall 2. Blocks – John Noordsy 1, Woodall 1, Keegan Fields 1.