Not having a lot of shots falling for all but one member of the Pella High boys’ basketball team, Little Dutch head coach, Mark Core, decided that they were going to stick with one player primarily shooting the ball. Sophomore Isaac Naaktgeboren seemed to have the hot hand against the Cardinals, scoring 25 points overall on 8-of-13 shooting and was 7-of-8 from the free throw line. After the game, Core said that generally the scoring is usually spread out more than it was against Newton, but as the game wore on, he simply told his guys to get the ball in Isaac’s hands.
“We are generally a more balanced team, and over the course of a game that is what we’re seeking,” Core said. “I will tell you that late in the game when it was pretty apparent that Isaac had the hot hand, we were telling the guys in the huddle we wanted the ball in Isaac’s hand. That’s not our overall offensive approach, but it became our approach as the game wound down.”
Their plan of attack worked, as the Little Dutch won 48 – 47 to improve their record to 8 – 4 overall and 4 – 2 in the Little Hawkeye Conference. They have another tough venue to play in on Friday, as Pella will cross the county line to Oskaloosa to play the Indians tomorrow night.