In a battle of top five ranked class 2-A boys basketball teams, Pella Christian went on the road and beat previously undefeated Van Meter 61-53 Saturday night.

The Bulldogs slowed the pace in the first half as they built a 24-19 lead, which ballooned to 27-19 as they hit a three-pointer on the first possession of the third quarter.

Pella Christian then went on a 10-0 run to grab a lead, and they’d never trail again.

Coach Larry Hessing says that they pulled a seldom used trick out of their bag to get going in the second half.

“We wanted to use some extended defenses, which we haven’t done a lot of this year. We just thought we needed to do that to try to increase the tempo. Their full court press makes you throw the ball sideways a bunch before you can get the ball up the court. So they slow you down that way, and then they have a 2-3 zone that we weren’t really doing well against in the first half, and we made an adjustment there (for the second half)”.

Levi Jungling led the way with 26 points on 9-of-15 shooting, and Jackson Flagel added 13 points and 7 rebounds off the bench.

The Eagles improve to 15-4 on the season, and will join the girls for a doubleheader tomorrow night at home against Dallas Center-Grimes.