Landon Vander Leest’s 3-pointer with 6.5 seconds remaining was the deciding basket as the Pella boys beat Newton last night 84-83 in overtime in a game heard live on KRLS 2.

Pella led by as many as 11 in the first half and Newton led by as many as 6 in the second half, but the score was deadlocked at 71 when players from both teams battled for a loose ball with .5 seconds remaining in regulation.

Referees whistled Pella for a foul, sending Newton’s Morgan Maher to the line for a one-and-one and a chance to win the game. When the free throw bounced off the back of the iron and into the hands of Pella’s Ryan Van Wyk, the game went to overtime.

Each team scored 10 points in the first 3 minutes of the extra session, and Pella held for a last second shot. Vander Leest buried his game winning shot, but the drama wasn’t over. The Cardinals’ Connor Gholson launched an off-balance 23-footer that missed the mark, but Drew Pringle was ruled to have fouled him on the shot.

Gholson, who was honored before the game as only the third 1,000 point scorer in Newton history, was an 83-percent free-throw shooter and had made all 6 of his attempts to that point of the game. His first one skipped out, deciding the outcome, before he made the last two for the final 84-83 margin.

Ryan Van Wyk scored 33 points to lead Pella, Donovan Holterhaus added 15 points and 11 rebounds, and Vander Leest scored 14.

The Little Dutch improve to 7-1 and 3-1 in the Little Hawkeye Conference.

Earlier in the night, Pella’s girls shook off a slow start to crush the Cardinals, 70-35.

Kiara Bradley scored 25 points and Emily Holterhaus added 17 points and 8 rebounds.

The Lady Dutch are 8-0, 4-0 in the LHC.

Pella’s girls will be in action this afternoon at the U.S. Cellular Center in Cedar Rapids. It’s a 5:10 tip between the class 4-A #1 Lady Dutch and class 5-A #3 Iowa City West.

Pella returns to Little Hawkeye Conference action Tuesday night with a doubleheader at Oskaloosa.