Pella Christian came back from a deep 4th quarter hole to earn a trip to the state basketball semifinals for a second straight season at Wells Fargo Arena.

They rallied to come out 59-52 winners over previously undefeated Dike-New Hartford Monday night as heard live on 92.1 KRLS.

The Eagles were seemingly in cruise control in the first 16 minutes behind a patient offense in the paint and a suffocating defense that mostly quelled the Wolverines. But Dike New-Hartford outscored Pella Christian 19-8 in the 3rd quarter and forced a comeback that came to its peak in the closing minutes of regulation.

Junior Alex Pringle came up with the play of the game with just over a minute left in the final period, after a series of missed shots on the previous possession–a big shot which was quickly followed up with a perfectly executed in-bounds toss to Levi Jungling for an easy layup to halt the Wolverines in their tracks.

Pringle told KNIA/KRLS Sports after the game the entire team fed on the energy of the last-gasp run, which propelled them to victory, along with some solid work at the charity stripe.

“It gave us the lead with a minute left and made them start fouling–and making those free throws changed the game,” he says.

Jungling led the way with 20 points, eight rebounds, and three steals, Pringle scored nine and stole a total of two, and Jeremy Van Beek dropped 10 points in the first half.

Pella Christian is 17-9 and takes on 21-3 Cascade-West Dubuque in the State Semifinals on Thursday at 2 p.m.

Click the media player below for an interview with Pringle.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Google Podcasts | RSS | More