The Pella Christian Eagles suffered their first conference loss of the season Friday night to Grinnell. It was a hard fought game until the end, but the Tigers took the win, 50-45.

The Tigers came out swinging, took the early lead and never looked back. Pella Christian got into foul trouble early, and it hampered them the rest of the game, never being able to run the offense that we’ve been used to all season. The Eagles made it a one possession game more than once, but it seemed every time they did Grinnell had an answer. The Eagles also had struggles from the free throw line all night.

Coach Larry Hessing said too many turnovers in the first half, along with poor shooting from the field and the free throw line put them in a whole and they just couldn’t recover.

Curtis Rozenboom led the way for the Eagles with 16 points, 14 of which came in the second half. Chase Carlson and Kyle Nikkel added 9 each.

Pella Christian falls to 4 and 2 on the year, and 1 and 1 in conference play. They will take a break for the holidays and get back in action on January 4th at South Tama.