Early spree, relentless ‘D’ sends Pella to state

By BURDELL HENSLEY

RUNNELLS — The Pella Little Dutch took an early lead, gave it up and then battled back to pull out a 56-47 win over Norwalk in a Class 3A substate final at Southeast Polk Monday night.

The two teams had split during the season and this meeting was for the big prize, a trip to the Class 3A State Basketball tourney at Wells Fargo Arena.

Pella was faced with a challenge on defense in the likes of 6-foot-8 Jake Logan and 6-5 Garrett Crall. That tandem was backed with three quick guards that could shoot the ball. That challenge was met by a relentless, all over the floor pressure defense that featured 10 players contributing in revolving door fashion. There were always fresh legs on the floor.

Pella opened the game like a wild prairie fire by raining in five of their first six shots from three-point land. Josh Pringle had two long balls in that spree and Blaine Forsythe, Deckar Lynch and Matt Meyers each had one three ball. That shooting display boosted the Little Dutch to a 19-10 first-quarter lead.

When Pringle opened the second stanza with a rebound put back for a 21-10 lead things were coming up roses. But just when momentum seemed to be settled in the Pella camp, it vanished. Shots would not drop and the Little Dutch had to endure a six minute dry spell. Meanwhile Norwalk went on a 12-0 run to take a 22-21 lead.

No panic here. Pella used a three by Forsythe and a spin move in the lane by Nathan Buchheit to regain the lead at 26-22. Norwalk answered with a pair of buckets by Crall in the final minute to tie the score at 26-26 going into intermission.

Norwalk grabbed a quick lead in the third period with a long three by Jared Stogdill, but Pella answered with inside three-point plays by Buchheit and Chris Bandstra to regain the lead at 32-29. It was like a pair of heavyweights trading punches and the Warriors countered. Logan rammed one home on the inside and Travis Mateer canned a three for a 34-32 Warrior lead.

Now it was time for the play of the game for Pella and perhaps it could be called the knockout punch. With the ball heading out of bounds for an apparent Pella turnover, lanky reserve center, Kyle Newendorp dove for the ball and flicked it back in bounds to a teammate as he crashed into the chairs. Newendorp jumped up and stepped back in bounds in the corner. A return pass came to him and Newendorp buried his only three of the season for a 35-34 Pella lead.

The ignition spark was found and Pella ended the third period with a 9-2 run to take a 41-36 lead into the final eight minutes. In addition to Newendorp’s 3, the Little Dutch got a three ball and a free throw by Buchheit and a bucket in the lane from Matt Dowie.

The Warriors were not done as they crept back to tie the game at 43-43 on a rebound put back by Logan. Pella grabbed the lead with an inside basket by Buchheit. Logan then missed the front end of a one-and-one left the door open for Bandstra. Bandstra scored in the lane and then after a Norwalk turnover he took a nifty pass from a teammate for a back door layup. That gave Pella a 49-43 lead with 2:13 left in the game.

Now it was free-throw shooting time. The Little Dutch hit 7-of-9 free throws in the final two minutes to seal the deal. As the final seconds ticked off a joyous celebration erupted on the green side of the floor.

For Pella coach Mark Core, it will be his eighth trip to the big show and he found great satisfaction in seeing this team get to go.

“This team is a group of athletes that finds ways to win,” Core said. “They are multi-sport athletes that have been under pressure before. They are competitors and they expect to make the big play. We hit threes early which is kind of deceptive as we don’t live and die by the three. We fought off their best challenge with tough defense. We didn’t get a lot of turnovers, but we were able to keep the pressure on them and not let them get into an offensive flow. We pressured the pass to try and keep the ball away from the big kid. We defended him on the high side and got good help on the underneath side. Our kids played excellent position defense.”

Buchheit led a balanced Pella attack with 13 points while Bandstra and Forsythe chipped in with 11 each. Pringle was next in line with eight points. Crall led the Warriors with 17 points and Stogdill added 10.

Forsythe was quick to point out that the basketball season and the football season had similarities.

“We were underdogs in both sports,” Forsythe said. But in both sport s we came together at the end of the season to play our best ball. We are just a bunch of athletes and we don’t care who makes the play. We feel confident that someone will come up with a play when we need it. It is just awesome to be going to state. We have dreamed about this for some time.”

The Little Dutch will march into Des Moines with a 20-3 record. They will take on 21-3 Forest City Tuesday night at 6:35 pm in the opening round of the Class 3-A State Tourney.



Pella 56, Norwalk 47 

Pella 19 7 15 15 — 56

Nor 10 16 10 11 — 47

PELLA (56) — Nathan Buchheit 5 2-3 13, Blaine Forsythe 2 5-6 11, Chris Bandstra 4 3-3 11, Josh Pringle 3 0-1 8, Matt Dowie 2 0-0  4, Deckar Lynch 1 0-0 3, Matt Meyers 1 0-0 3, Kyle Newendorp 1 0-0 3.

3-point goals — Pringle 2, Forsythe 2, Lynch, Buchheit, Meyers, Newendorp. Rebounds — Buchheit 6, Pringle 5, Newendorp 5, Bandstra 3, Meyers 3, Forsythe 3. Steals — Pringle 2. Assists — Forsythe 5, Buchheit 4, Dowie 4, Pringle 2.

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