The excitement was certainly palpable surrounding the ADM Tiger boys basketball team last night as they kicked off their season opener on the road against Pella Christian high school.

The Tigers were not only looking to stop their two year win less drought against Pella Christian, but also their 4 win less drought in their season opener, and on top of that start their season off 1-0. Just as in their contest last season, last night’s game would come down to the wire but unfortunately ADM would extend their first game win less drought loosing to the Eagles 75-68.

The game started in similar fashion to its last year predecessor with ADM down at the end of one quarter 16-12. After a solid scoring run for Pella Christian early in the second quarter, ADM would turn on the jets and trim a 12 point lead into an 8 point lead at halftime. Payton Conrad would find himself leading the team in first half points with 13 after two quarters.

What might have seemed like the turn around point for ADM came in the third quarter where they trimmed the Pella Christian lead all the way down to a five point lead at the end of the third quarter. That is where the crowd witnessed ADM drain the majority of their 7 three point buckets in the second half. The tight game carried on into much of the fourth quarter, but it was ADM’s foul trouble that got to them in the late goings sending Pella Christian to the line various times inside the final four minutes of the contest and despite that second half surge, ADM would fall 75-68.

ADM did manage to hold Pella Christian’s four year powerhouse player Levi Jungling to just 5 points overall on the contest but it was senior newcomer David Kacmarynski that gashed the Tigers for 21 points. One of the lopsided aspects in the game against the Tigers was total bench points as the Eagles bench outscored ADM’s bench by a 36-3 total.

Leading the point charge for ADM was Payton Conrad ending the contest with 25 points followed by Tajen Ross with 20 points, and Matt Larson with 14 points.

The Tigers will have another chance to grab their first win of the season this week with an early season rematch against last year’s other Raccoon River Conference co-champion Ballard high school on Friday. It will be part of the first girl/boy double header of the season for both Tiger teams and you can catch the action on K107.9FM beginning with girls pregame coverage at 5:45 pm with the boys contest to follow.