Pella Christian fell short last night in the Class 2A Region 2 semifinals, losing 45-37 to 13th-ranked Pekin a game heard live on KRLS.

The Eagles broke out to a 5-0 lead, but struggled through a sluggish first half that saw the teams tied 14-14 at halftime.

Pekin broke out in the third quarter to take a 29-22 lead going into the fourth, and extended their advantage to as many as nine. Pella Christian fought back within three, but couldn’t hit the clutch shot to tie the game and the Panthers made enough free throws down the stretch to salt the game away.

Eagles’ coach Kevin Van Maanen says that it was tough to come up with the right words in the locker room after the season-ending setback.

“You just hope that they can learn from it. A lot of them are still young yet, as juniors, and hopefully they’ll come back next year more hungry to make sure this doesn’t happen again. That’s what I stressed to them a little bit. I know that they will. They’ll work hard in the offseason. These ball players have a lot of heart and a lot of grit and I know we’re going to have a great season next year. But it does hurt right now.”

The Eagles wrap up the 2017-2018 season with a record of 12-11. Pekin advances to Monday’s regional final against Grundy Center for a trip to the state tournament.

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