The Eagles basketball team is traveling to Fairfield tonight in hopes of making it a baker’s dozen in trips made to Wells Fargo Arena.

Pella Christian, at 15-9, will take on 15-8 West Burlington in the Class 2A Substate 6 Final for the right to go to state in their second straight season, the sixth time since 2008, and 13th time ever.

The Falcons edged conference foe Pekin in their substate matchup Tuesday 56-52 after falling to their rivals twice in the season. Head Coach Larry Hessing sees their length in the paint as the biggest hurdle for his guys to overcome.

“They have two rangy post players — one at 6’6″, and one at 6’4″,” Hessing says. “It’s not that we haven’t seen taller opponents in the past, but we haven’t seen a lot of opponents that have tried to use two posts on offense. So we’ve been practicing on the little wrinkles that we have to recognize and try to defend well.”

The key cog for Pella Christian, Hessing says, is a stingy defense allowing just 47 points per game in their seven-game winning streak.

Our coverage begins at 6:40 on 92.1 KRLS, with Andrew Schneider and Wynne Veenstra on the call, and the contest begins at 7 p.m.

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