Photo courtesy of Troy L. Hugen Photography

Despite graduating eight seniors from the program last year, the Pella Christian boys basketball team will once again feature a large group of senior leadership. 

The Eagles have seven seniors suiting up this winter, with four players returning that had varsity experience last season and three players that will make their varsity debut. Deacon Branderhorst and Landon Fransman played in all 24 varsity games for Pella Christian last year, while Cooper Spronk played in 19 games after returning from an injury during football season and Ethan Van Arendonk saw time in 11 games. Joining that group of seniors on the varsity squad this season will be Josiah Vink, Wyatt Snyder, and Rob Schreur. While the group of seniors bring varying levels of experience to the Eagles this season, head coach Marv Van Wyk says he’s excited about what this year’s senior class brings to the team.

“All those guys are just great teammates to each other. They lack a little varsity experience, but they’re all good basketball players. And so, I’m not worried about the competitive side of it, because those guys do a great job of being leaders, and they lead by example. There’s a couple of them that can be kind of vocal, but it’s just a really good group that leads by example, really cares about each other, really cares about the rest of the team, and it’s not just about the seniors. So, I really appreciate those guys.”

The Pella Christian boys basketball team opens their season Tuesday in the back half of a doubleheader against Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont that can be heard live on 92.1 KRLS.