Photo courtesy of Troy L. Hugen Photography

The Pella Christian boys basketball team’s bid for a State Tournament appearance came up short Saturday night, as they fell to Union 61-60 in the Class 2A Substate 6 Final heard live on 92.1 KRLS.

The game was back and forth early, but Gilbert Flagel’s three-pointer at the first quarter buzzer gave the Eagles a 20-16 lead. The two teams continued to battle in the second quarter, but a 7-0 closing run for Pella Christian gave them a 33-26 advantage at halftime. The Eagles carried that momentum into the second half, maintaining a 50-43 lead going into the final eight minutes of play. Much like the first half, the two teams traded blows early in the fourth quarter. A Trey Steinkamp layup with three minutes remaining gave Pella Christian a 60-52 lead, but Union finished the game on a 9-0 run to end the Eagles’ season. Flagel ended his high school career as the game’s leading scorer with 20 points. Steinkamp added 15 points for Pella Christian, while Garrett Wielard finished his final game with a career-high 14 points. Head coach Joe Steinkamp said that despite the result, he was proud of how his team played.

“We, for the most part, handle their pressure pretty well. I thought there was a time where we were sitting with an eight-point lead, where we just couldn’t get a couple stops to get it to 12 or really put it away, and they just kept coming at us. We knew coming into the game, it was gonna be two completely different styles, their speed and shot making against our length, size, and stuff like that. So, just a great high school basketball game and a great environment, but unfortunately we just didn’t come away with it.”

Pella Christian finishes the year with a 14-11 overall record, and will graduate four seniors from the program in Flagel, Wielard, Devan Runner, and Ben Van Wyngarden.