Pat Harty

Your Prep Sports

IOWA CITY – Regina coach Jared Galpin takes pride in teaching and playing man-to-man defense, but he had to swallow his pride against Northeast Goose Lake on Friday.

Galpin was forced to switch from playing man-to-man to a 1-2-2 zone defense after senior point guard Masen Miller, senior forward Josh Dutchik and junior forward Ashton Cook all picked up two fouls in the first quarter.

The change in strategy paid dividends as Miller, Dutchik and Cook all stayed out of foul trouble after switching to a zone defense and the Regals would go on to prevail 62-47 at the Regina gym.

Northeast Goose Lake struggled to get open looks against the Regina zone defense, especially in the first half when the Rebels only made 6-of-24 field-goal attempts.

“We’ve been working on it, but obviously, we want to play man, Galpin said. “That’s what we’re going to hang our hat on is playing man-to-man defense.

“But we got into foul trouble and we had to protect guys in foul trouble. So we went to zone and we kind of settled into it. It was working. We weren’t giving up a lot of perimeter shots and we just stayed with it.”

Regina improved to 5-1 with the victory, while Northeast Goose Lake fell to 5-2.

The Regals bolted to an 8-2 lead and never trailed in Friday’s game.

Regina made four 3-point baskets in the second quarter, including three by Miller, and led 32-19 at halftime.

Miller finished with a game-high 33 points and was a model of consistency, scoring 16 points in the first half and 17 in the second half.

The Truman State recruit also played a solid floor game and was active on defense.

“Obviously, when we get fouls we have to sit in that zone a little bit, and we’ve been working on it in practice,” Miller said. “And a shout-out to our scout team. They’ve been showing us good looks and we’ve been able to work on it.”

Northeast Goose Lake trimmed the deficit to 54-47 late in the fourth quarter, but Regina answered with an 8-0 scoring run to close the game.

Miller scored seven of Regina’s final eight points, but he also uncharacteristically missed four free throws in the second half, although, in fairness, he also made 12 free throws.

“I’ve got to work on those,” Miller said. “A few of them rimmed out and I just have to have a better focus on them.”

Asked if he was more pleased with his team’s offense or defense, Miller said:

“I’d say defense is kind of key for us because against Durant we weren’t exactly hitting our shots, other guys stepped up and hit shots. But our defense is what we rely on and we hammer that home in practice.”

Miller has been big shot maker since he started playing at the varsity level in ninth grade, but his game has since expanded to where he now also excels as a passer and as a defender.

“He just had to mature and get his body physically where it needed to be to play point guard,” Galpin said.

Miller credits his improved strength for helping to expand his game.

“It’s big time,” Miller said. “We have a really good strength training program here at Regina.”

Northeast    10   9   11  17  –   47

Regina          15  17  12  18  –  62

Northeast Goose Lake (47) – Dawson Rickords 1-9 0- 2, Dakota Stevenson 6-9 0-0 16, Grant Rickertsen 3-15 1-1 8, Trey McAleer 1-6 4-5 7, Judd Swanton 4-14 1-2 9, Atzin Dondiego 2-5 0-2 4, Carter Pataska 0-1 1-2 1, Riley Wolfe 0-02 0-0 0, Cole Lee 0-1 0-0 0, Team 17-62 7-12 47.

Regina (62) – Masen Miller 9-17 12-16 33, Ashton Cook 5-10 3-3 13, Chase Becker 2-5 2-5 6, Josh Dutchik 0-0 1-2 1, Danny Molony 0-2 0-0 0, Andrew Wiese 1-1 0-0 2, Nic Hein 0-0 0-0 0, Jack Keller 1-2 1-2 3, Coltrae Kerschen 1-5 0-0 3, Casey Daniel 0-1 0-0 0, Team 19-43 19-28 62.

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