By JIM GRIES
PELLA — Pella Christian took full advantage of its time at the free-throw line during its Little Hawkeye Conference matchup with Oskaloosa Tuesday night.
The Eagles converted 21 of their 29 attempts from the charity stripe while the Indians were just 4 of 12 from the line in taking a 55-41 loss at the hands of the No. 9 Eagles.
“Free throws were the key,” Oskaloosa coach Bryan White said. “They (Eagles) stepped up at the line and we didn’t. We also missed a lot of open looks. Sixteen points is a lot of points to make up from the free-throw line.”
Early on, it looked like the Indians (5-7, 3-6) appeared ready for an upset. They held a 4-1 lead in the first part of the game before Pella Christian came back strong to take the lead. Kyle Nikkel, who led all scorers with 25 points, had two free throws and Sam Tvedt converted a steal into a basket to put the Eagles ahead at 5-4 at the midway point of the opening quarter.
The teams traded leads three times in the final minutes of the quarter with the Indians hanging on to a slim 10-9 lead.
The second quarter saw the squads exchange the lead twice and neither team had more than a four-point advantage over the other.
Pella Christian managed a 24-20 lead late in the first half only to have Erik McGee getting a pair of field goals, and the duo of Jon Eveland and Alex Knoot combining to create a steal with Eveland converting it into a bucket to give Oskaloosa a 26-24 at intermission.
Both teams had problems getting the ball to go through the hoop coming out of the locker room as they combined for six field goals and 16 points in the third period.
Oskaloosa had just two field goals, but both were 3-pointers from Eveland and McGee. Nikkel had three of the baskets for Pella Christian and Alex Branderhorst had the other field goal as the teams were knotted at 33 going into the final quarter.
That fourth quarter was all Pella Christian as it missed just twice in seven tries from the field and hit on 10 of 12 attempts from the charity stripe.
The Indians entertains LHC foe Knoxville Friday night in a game that was postponed from earlier in the month.
Pella Christian 55, Oskaloosa 41
Osky 10 16 7 8 — 41
PC 9 15 9 22 — 55
OSKALOOSA (41) — Jon Eveland 3 2-4 9, Erik McGee 7 0-0 15, Mitchell Tucker 1 2-8 4, Alex Knoot 1 0-0 2, Malaki Wills 4 0-0 11, Jake Osborn 0 0-0 0, Alex Christenson 0 0-0 0, Jake McCrea 0 0-0 0. Totals 16 4-12 41.
3-point goals — 3 (Eveland, McGee, Wills). Total fouls — 20. Turnovers — 8.
PELLA CHRISTIAN (55) — Sam Tvedt 4 3-4 11, Chase Carlson 1 2-6 4, Kyle Nikkel 7 11-12 25, Alex Branderhorst 2 1-2 5, Jon Holwerda 0 0-0 0, James Blom 1 0-2 2, Curtis Rozenboom 2 2-3 6. Totals 17 21-29 55.
Total fouls — 14. Turnovers — 7.
