Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

MAQUOKETA – The coaches from both sides got the exact type of game they expected in the Class 2A, Region 8 title game on Wednesday.

Regina got the defensive effort it needed to hang with sixth-ranked Cascade while the Cougars got the pace it wanted to slow a red-hot Regal offense.

It was Cascade that got what it ultimately wanted, a win and a shot at the state tournament.

Cascade (22-1) used a 6-0 run to snap a 33-all tie with under three minutes to play and held on for a 42-38 win for Regina in an all River Valley Conference district final at Maquoketa.

“We kind of envisioned it was going to be a low scoring slugfest kind of a game,” Cascade coach Jacob Brindle said. “We didn’t want it to be in the 60s or 70s we thought that would be an advantage to them, we would have liked to score a few more points but we didn’t mind it being in the 40s.”

Both teams had season-low scoring outputs on Wednesday and combined to shoot 38 percent from the floor.

In a game where points and possessions were at a premium it was Cascade that made just enough plays on offense to advance.

Brock Simon snapped a 33-all tie with a turnaround 12-footer with 2:29 left and Haris Hoffman and Gannon O’Brien hit four consecutive free throws on the two ensuing Cougar possessions as Cascade moved on to face Dyersville Beckman (14-8) in the substate 4 Final on Saturday at 7 p.m. in Manchester.

“That what we expected, that’s the game I hoped for defensively,” Regina coach Jared Galpin said. “They just made a few more plays down the stretch.”

Regina (18-4) entered Wednesday riding a 10-game winning streak in which it was averaging nearly 67 points per game.

The Regals struggled to muster much offense against Cascade and it’s patented 2-3 zone.

Regina shot 42 percent from the field but attempted just 33 shots and was 5-of-19 from 3-point range.

“Obviously we wanted to push the tempo but they do such a good job of getting back and stifling that,” Galpin said. “We focused on staying patient and getting a good looks and some of them fell and some didn’t.”

In a regular season meeting between the two teams in December Cascade outscored Regina 35-19 in the second half on its way to a 19-point win.

Brindle didn’t expect a similar outcome against a red-hot Regina team.

“They are a young team so they had some guys in big roles that hadn’t played last year and like any team that is well coached they got better,” Brindle said. “They got a lot better and we knew that so we were ready for this type of game.”
Jake Phillips gave Regina a 19-18 halftime lead with a 15-foot runner before the halftime buzzer.

The Regals opened up a 26-22 lead with under three minutes to play in the third quarter but the Cougars scored the final four points of the quarter to pull even at 26-all.

Regina led 33-31 with under five minutes to play but Cascade scored the next eight points while holding Regina scoreless for more than four minutes.

“If we could have gotten up six or seven it could have been a different story but either way we knew it was going to be a three or four-point game the whole game and that’s the way it was,” Galpin said. “They just made more plays than us down the stretch.”

Sophomores Masen Miller and Even Brauns combined for 27 points on 10-of-16 shooting but the rest of the Regals were just 4-of-17 from the field.

Miller had a game-high 14 and Brauns had 13 but no other player had more than four for Regina.

“Our big emphasis was no runs so even when we were missing shots we were digging in on defense,” Brindle said. “I don’t know how many Kerschen had but it was less that we wanted him to have and Miller is a great player and he hit some big shots but for the most part we locked in on those guys and kind of hoped the other guys didn’t go off.”

Regina                        10  9  7  12  –  38

Cascade                      13  5  8  16  –  42

Regina (38) – Zach Seaman 1-4 0-0 2, Bryce Barnett 0-1 0-0 0, Masen Miller 5-10 0-0 14, Jocoa Kerschen 1-4 0-0 3, Jake Phillips 1-5 2-4 4, Ryne Schooley 1-3 0-0 2, Even Brauns 5-6 3-4 13, Team 14-33 5-10 38.

Cascade (42) – Brock Simon 2-9 4-7 9, Derek Koppes 2-4 0-0 6, Johnny Supple 4-10 1-3 10, Reid Rausch 1-1 0-0 2, Gannon O’Brien 2-6 6-6 11, Haris Hoffman 1-5 2-3 4, Team 12-35 13-19 42. 

3-point field goals – ICR 5-19 (Seaman 0-3, Barnett 0-1, Miller 4-8, Kerschen 1-4, Phillips 0-2, Schooley 0-1); CAS 5-18 (Simon 1-4, Koppes 2-3, Supple 1-5, O’Brien 1-4, Hoffman 0-2). Rebounds – ICR 20 (Phillips 4); CAS 27 (Supple 6). Turnovers – ICR 11; CAS 9. Total fouls – ICR 21; CAS 11. Fouled out – None. Technical fouls – None.