Photo by Paige Farrell

The first step of what the #5 ranked Eagles boys basketball team hopes is six toward the ultimate prize in Class 2A was accomplished Thursday, as Pella Christian defeated Albia in a district semifinals contest heard live on 92.1 KRLS.

The Eagles toppled the Blue Demons 75-64, in a game that started with an early surge from the road team. P.C. rode their transition game by creating quick strike scoring chances in the 2nd quarter to at one point build a 15-point lead, only for a junior-heavy Albia squad to keep pushing the home team until the final few minutes in the 4th quarter.

Head Coach J.D. Boer is proud of how his team held off those respective runs from Albia and kept the opponent at arms’ reach with several timely scoring opportunities of their own.

“To not panic, I thought, was really important, and our seniors did a good job of leading un those moments and our guys do a good job of that,” he says.

Dane Geetings paced the Eagles offense with a 26 point performance, followed by 13 from Tysen DeVries and 11 from Josiah Vos. Pella Christian improves to 17-5 overall and heads to the district finals Tuesday against Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont in Oskaloosa.