ABERDEEN -- Despite losing a big early lead, Mitchell turned to a senior in the third quarter and key free throws in the fourth for an Eastern South Dakota Conference win Tuesday night.
The Kernels, who were playing their third game in five days, scored the last six points of the game for a 56-48 win over Aberdeen Central Tuesday in a high school boys' basketball game at Golden Eagles Arena in Aberdeen.
Central was coming off an overtime win over Watertown on Saturday and Mitchell lost to Sioux Falls Roosevelt in its last outing.
The visiting team jumped out to a 12-0 lead in the first quarter, but the Golden Eagles battled back for a 21-21 tie at halftime.
"When you're down 12, you have to expend a lot of energy to get back in the game," said Central coach Brent Norberg. "You would like to use that energy to make a run to go ahead. I talked to them about avoiding a let down after Saturday's game and we had one."
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Mitchell held a slim 30-28 lead in the third quarter when senior Brett Young heated up on the offensive end of the floor. He scored 16 of Mitchell's next 20 points, including a string of 14 straight.
"He shot very well," said Mitchell coach Gary Munsen. "He was very patient. We went to him a lot in the third quarter because we were in foul trouble. He did a nice job of shot selection."
Young finished with 28 points. He made 11 of 18 field goals, including three of seven from three-point range. His last field goal of the night gave the Kernels a 50-44 lead with two minutes left in the game.
"We did a better job helping out on Young in the fourth quarter," Norberg said. "He made some shots. We did not follow the game plan in the third quarter. We tried to do the easy thing instead of what we were supposed to do on him. He hurt us. He had open shots and he drilled them."
Central's Andrew Janish pulled the Eagles to within two points at 50-48 with a layup and two free throws with 1:43 on the clock. The Kernels made four of seven free throws to clinch the win.
"I was pleased with the way our kids played defense the whole night. Not just the first quarter, but 32 minutes," Munsen said. "When you play on the road against AA schools, you know they are going to make a run at you. They certainly made a game of it.
"You have to give coach Norberg, his coaching staff and his players a lot of credit. At 50-48 it was anybody's ball game and we were fortunate to get a couple of free throws to go down."
Sam Fosness scored 12 points for Mitchell and Brett Victor pulled down nine rebounds.
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Zach White topped Central with 13 points. The Golden Eagles shot 29 percent from the field in the first half and 37 percent for the game.
"We missed layups," Norberg said. "You cannot be a consistent, winning basketball team if you miss layups, turn the ball over and don't follow the game plan. Saturday we were consistent the whole game and doing the right stuff. We regressed."
Aberdeen Central hosts Pierre in another ESD game Thursday at Golden Eagles Arena. Mitchell heads to Brookings Friday for a conference game.
