Teams can live and die by the three. On a night of solid perimeter shooting, Aberdeen’s boys found new life in their postseason quest.

Turning in what their coach described as their best offensive performance, the Bobcats upset Black Hills, 66-58, in an Evergreen 2A Conference boys basketball game Tuesday night at Sam Benn Gym.

Aberdeen’s Ben Dublanko was deadly from long range and had 23 points that included three 3-pointers. Dublanko also found room to finish at the rim once the Wolves began focusing on not allowing 3-point shots.

Javier Bojorge also got a lot of attention from the Wolves when he got open beyond the arc and hit four 3-pointers.

Aberdeen head coach Mark Buckman said the win highlighted how good his team can be when it shares the basketball.

“It was our best offensive effort tonight. The guys really played together, they shared the ball and they found guys open when they were set up,” he said. “There were times when they were too loose, but they recognized the flow of the game and went at it.”

The Bobcats (2-5, 4-12) actually stumbled out of the gate and didn’t get their first bucket until midway through the first quarter.

Coming out of a timeout, Aberdeen started to get the offense rolling and started moving the ball around the perimeter, forcing the Wolves to react and rotate quickly to Aberdeen’s long-range threats.

When Black Hills couldn’t get a hand up to contest quickly enough, the Bobcats started gaining control of the game.

If there was anything that slowed down the Bobcats, it was turnovers. The Bobcats turned the ball over eight times in the first half. They had a particularly tough time passing the ball around Jackson Bauer, causing Buckman to reprimand his team from the bench when he broke up another play.

On the other end of the court, Black Hills’ Garrett Glenn had 29 points and took advantage of all the mismatches that he got in the paint.

The passing also faltered when Black Hills went to a full-court press down by 10 with about two minute to go.

The Bobcats had trouble inbounding the ball in these circumstances and made a few more turnovers that made the final minutes more interesting than they would have liked.

Buckman gave credit to Black Hills for its defensive hustle in the final minutes of the game but said the coaching staff had to make some adjustments to get the ball up court safely.

The win keeps Aberdeen in the postseason hunt, but the road to the tournament will not be an easy one. The Bobcats will visit league-leading Chehalis on Thursday in what will be another pivitol game as they try to qualify for the postseason.

Buckman said the game plan for the rest of the season is pretty simple.

“Unfortunately, we’re not in control of our own destiny,” he said. “We’ve got four more games and we just have to win them all. We have three league games and a game against Hoquiam, and we have to take care of all of them.”

Black Hills (58) — Glenn 29, Carter 2, Armin 1, Wright 1, Ainsworth 6, Crumley 6, Olson 8, Bauer 2. FT — 10-14.

Aberdeen (66) — Barragan 2, Bojorge 16, Dublanko 23, Coburn 8, Pisani 8, Shale 2, Timmons 6, Elrod, Tinnell 3, Farrer. FT — 13-15.