Pella Christian picked a great night to play their best basketball of the year. They were faced with a tough task Tuesday night, as they traveled to Norwalk (8-1, 5-1) for a game against the Little Hawkeye Conference’s only undefeated team. Pella Christian came to play.
Norwalk opened up the game with a 5-0 run, and it seemed as though they were going to open up a big lead, early. The Eagles picked up the intensity from that moment.
Pella Christian played stellar defense the rest of the quarter holding Norwalk to a total of 9 points. The trend continued into the second quarter, and the Eagles found themselves up 29-20 at the break.
Pella Christian once again came out strong in the second half, with Sam Tvedt leading the way. Norwalk cut the lead to 5 (40-35) by the end of the third quarter, but Pella Christian rose to the occasion end never gave up the lead.
Sam Tvedt was a menace to the Warriors. He added a game-high 26 points, 19 came in the second half. Unofficially, Tvedt had 8 steals. His quickness gave Norwalk problems all night. Sam was 10/10 from the free-throw line, 8 of which came after halftime. Curtis Rozenboom was part of the reason Pella Christian grabbed an early lead, scoring all of his 9 points before halftime. Alex Branderhorst returned from injury to provide 9 points in the victory. Chase Carlson battled foul-trouble and still had 9 points. Kyle Nikkel had 8 points.
The Eagles hit clutch free throws down the stretch and pulled out a big win, 66-58.
Unofficially Pella Christian had 12 turnovers, a stat that coach Hessing said would be a season-low. He added the solid defense and teamwork on the offensive end were keys to the win big.
Jake Logan led the way for Norwalk with 19 points, Mark Phillips had 15.
Pella Christian, with the win, improve to 7-3 overall with a 4-2 conference record, all while handing Norwalk their first loss of the season. Norwalk falls to 8-1 overall and 5-1 in Little Hawkeye Conference play.
Pella Christian has one day to practice before hosting Oskaloosa, a game that was postponed on January 11th and rescheduled for Thursday night.