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The Pella Christian boys basketball team took a game that was competitive through the first half and broke it wide open in the final two periods, as the Eagles picked up a 77-47 Homecoming victory over Knoxville last night. Pella Christian Head Coach Larry Hessing said his team’s 15-9 lead through the end of the opening period was not the start he had hoped for.

“The first quarter especially was kind of a ‘grind-it-out’ kind of game. We would have liked to have maybe gotten out earlier on them, because we didn’t really feel we wanted to leave Knoxville in the game all that long,” said Hessing. “Since they’d won three in a row, we thought they had more confidence going into this game than they’ve had in a while and we didn’t want to add to that.”

Up 31-19 at halftime, the Eagles poured it on in the second half, putting up 23 points in each of the final two periods, while limiting Knoxville’s opportunities offensively. The Eagles had four players in double-digit scoring, led by a strong night from Chase Carlson, who had 16 points and 7 rebounds. The Pella Christian boys are now 10-2 overall and 7-2 in conference play, with a non-conference tilt scheduled for today at Washington. Knoxville was led by Mike Jacks with 15 points. Luke Moore went down with an ankle injury just before halftime. Coach Brad McWilliams says Moore is likely out for awhile but hopefully not too long. Knoxville saw their three game win streak snapped and fell to 4-9 on the season and 3-6 in the LHC.