Pella took game one of the Tulip City rivalry Friday night at Pella Christian with a 60-44 victory. The Little Dutch came out flat, and were once down 8-0 but came roaring back ending the first half on a 30-12 run and remaining in front for the rest of the game.

In the third quarter, Pella Christian did cut the lead down to a 2 possession game, but just as they got close Pella strung together a couple baskets when they had to, to maintain their control.

The Little Dutch had 9 players make their mark in the scoring column. Head coach Mark Core said after the game, “if we can get everybody chipping in and getting their fair share, I think we’ll be difficult to defend”. Two well-balanced 30 point halves proved to be plenty for the Little Dutch, en route to their 5th straight win.

Pella Christian head coach Larry Hessing said after the game he felt they had the right game plan coming in, but they didn’t execute as well as they had hoped. He added Pella had a lot to do with that.
Lucas Boyd had a team-high 13 points in the win. Nick Dorman and Josh Pringle each added 8.

Chase Carlson had a game-high 15 points in the loss, Kyle Nikkel added 9 while Curtis Rozenboom had 8.

Both schools face tough schedules in the near future. Pella will head to Little Hawkeye Conference leader Norwalk on January 21st, quickly followed by PCM the following day. Pella Christian’s next game is also against Norwalk. That game is scheduled for January 18th. The Eagles then host Oskaloosa on January 20th.

With the win, Pella improves to 7-1 on the year, and 5-1 in conference play. Their only loss came at home to Norwalk, a team they’ll surely be looking to up-end in Norwalk next week.

Pella Christian falls to 6-3 with the loss, with a 3-2 conference record.

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