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The Pella boys completed the first part of their season journey beating Norwalk last night 56-47 in the Class 3A Sub State to earn a trip the Boys State Basketball Tournament next week..now the second part of that journey begins ending with what they hope will be their first state championship since 2003.

Pella jumped out to an early 13-5 lead in the first quarter using hot shooting including five three pointers but the Warriors battled back and the two teams eventually headed into halftime tied at 26-26. After a back and forth third quarter Pella held a 41-36 lead. Norwalk began the fourth quarter on a 7-2 run to tie the game at 43 but Pella would finish the game on an 13-4 run in the final 5:30 to get the win. Pella coach Mark Core said it was a battle til the end but Pella was able to gain momentum late once again through their defense: [simage=1676,200,y,right]

“First quarter we did get off to a hot start and hit some threes but ultimately as the game wore on it turned into a defensive battle which favors our team. Both teams were just trying to make plays down the stretch and we jhust made a few more than they did”

Core said in the fourth quarter Pella took a page out of Norwalk’s book and used it against the Warriors:

“We had some very patient offensive posessions in the fourth quarter, got some wide open looks and got to the free throw line. We started playing a little bit of Norwalk’s style of basketball and it worked to our advantage and we were able to make some plays”

Nathan Buchheit led Pella with 13 points, 11 of which came in the second half, Blaine Forsythe scored 11 including four late free throws to ice the win, Chris Bandstra also added 11 points. Norwalk ends their season 22-2 with both losses coming to Pella. Pella improves to 20-3 and moves on to next week’s Class 3A State Basketball Tournament where they are seeded 5th and will face the number four seed Forest City next Tuesday night at 6:30pm.

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