It’s November, which means basketball season is nearly upon us. A former Pella Christian athlete will be in close proximity to our area tonight and tomorrow for a pair of basketball games. Current Morningside star, Kyle Nikkel will be playing at William Penn tonight in Oskaloosa at 5:30 p.m. and will head back west to Des Moines to take on Grandview College at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday. Doing some of his best “work” on the football field, Nikkel remembers some specific advice and values he learned from being an Eagle under Coach Rich Kacmarynski.

“Looking back at all of the times Coach Kac(marynski) and I engaged in conversation, a lot of it had to do with never giving up,” Nikkel said. “No matter the circumstances, if we were down by 21 or up by 49, he always told us to never give up. No matter how hard life was or how bad we were losing, that we always still had a chance until the clock hit zero.”

Nikkel is a sophomore center for the Mustangs and is majoring in Elementary Education. Last season, Nikkel averaged 8.7 points per game in 33 contests, which was third best on the team. Tonight and tomorrow’s games are the first two of the season for Morningside in 2013.