Pella and Pella Christian will square off on the hardwood for the first time this season tonight.

The boys game features two state tournament teams from a year ago who are off to opposite starts this season. Pella is 3-0 for first year head coach Derek Schulte, while Pella Christian is 0-3.

This is Schulte’s first crack at his cross-town rivals, and he knows that his team is in for a battle tonight.

“Records, throw those out. That’s a really good basketball team, a well-coached team and a program that we have a lot of respect for. They could easily be 3-0 right now as well. It’s going to be a fun atmosphere, a fun game, and these are the types of things as a coach and a player that you’ve got to be excited for. We know we’ve got a really difficult challenge ahead of us.”

For Pella Christian, coach Larry Hessing has been preaching a specific message to his team this week in practice.

“Friday night is an opportunity for them to shine. It’s an opportunity for them to take a step forward and do better than we have done to this point in the season. Hopefully we will seize that opportunity and some good things will happen. It doesn’t necessarily mean it will happen on the scoreboard. We hope it does, that’s what we’re going for, but there’s an opportunity to shine.”

Tonight’s doubleheader will be played at Pella High School beginning at 6:00. Join Andrew Schneider and Trevor Castle for the action live on 92.1 KRLS beginning with pregame coverage at 5:45.

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