Despite trailing by 10 points in the first quarter, the Pella Christian boys basketball team pulled out a 61-54 victory over MFL MarMac in the first round of the class 2A boys state basketball tournament last night in a game heard live on 92.1 KRLS.

The Bulldogs scored 11 of the game’s first 14 points and jumped out to a 19-9 lead late in the first quarter, but Eagles junior guard Tyson DeVries says that they never panicked.

“We kind of just had to settle in a little bit. We were all a little anxious about the game, and it’s okay to have nerves and stuff, but we settled in and took a few deep breaths after that media time out and we believed in each other”, DeVries said. “It all started with getting rebounds, because we were getting out-rebounded. But once we started getting rebounds, and once we had those we could look up the floor and run the floor and play like we do.”

Pella Christian scored the last five points of the first quarter and the first nine points of the second quarter for a 14-0 run to take the lead. Then MFL MarMac answered with an 8-0 stretch before the Eagles finished the half with a 15-4 blitz to build a 38-31 lead. The advantage grew as big as nine in the third quarter, was shrunk to two at 49-47 early in the fourth, but Pella Christian had one last run, ripping off seven in a row to regain control, and the margin was never less than five down the stretch.

The Eagles limited the Bulldogs to just 36.7% from the floor, including only 4-of-18 from the three-point line. Meanwhile, Pella Christian shot 45.8% and made 6-of-17 from behind the arc. Aiden Stoltz made three long balls and led P.C. with 15 points while DeVries added a dozen.

Pella Christian improves to 16-9 on the season and will play Central Lyon Thursday morning at 10:30 in the semifinals. The top-seed in the tournament cruised to a 74-41 victory over Des Moines Christian.