Centerville scored the first bucket of last night’s class 3A opening round matchup against the 2nd-ranked Pella High boys.  After that, it was all Dutch in a 100-42 blowout victory heard live on 92.1 KRLS.

Karl Miller scored 18 points in the first quarter and had 24 by halftime as the Little Dutch built a commanding 58-14 lead.  Coach Derek Schulte says that his club just took care of business.

“We were able to get the game going at our pace early in that first quarter with some pressure.  It helps to knock down some threes, I thought Karl was in a great rhythm and our guys kept finding him.  We did a lot of little things well, like offensive rebounding (18) and assists (29), which is sharing the basketball.  We weren’t hunting for our own shots, we continued to make the right basketball play.”

The Little Dutch, the number one three-point shooting team in class 3A with nearly 11 makes per game, knocked down 18 from distance last night in their first 100 point outing in more than four years — which last came against Centerville in February of 2017.

Miller finished the game with 29 points and Grant Nelson (14), Noah Allen (13) and Parker Elder (10) also hit double digits.

Pella improves to 19-2 on the season and will host Newton in a district final on Thursday night at Pella High School.  The Little Dutch swept the season series against the Cardinals, winning 73-35 at Newton earlier in the season and hanging on for a 69-64 home court victory in late January.