Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

WEST BRANCH – As some college coaches around the country are beginning to learn there are unique challenges in playing an opponent on back-to-back days.

For veteran Regina coach Gary Belger the challenge in facing River Valley Conference rival West Branch on consecutive days was less about the timing and more about the opponent.

For the second straight day Class 2A No. 10 West Branch used a strong finish to pull away from Regina capping a two-day season sweep of the Regals with a 73-52 win on Tuesday in West Branch.

“Oh, it’s a challenge,” Belger said of playing back-to-game games against an opponent. “But if it was against somebody else it wouldn’t be too bad.”

West Branch (16-1) shot 53 percent from the field, including a scorching 11-of-22 from 3-point range, and had five players finish in double figures while winning its fourth straight game and second in as many nights over the Regals.

The Bears got contributions from everyone that hit the court on Tuesday.

Senior forward Jeff Bowie had a team-high 16 points while Peyton Miller came off the bench to score 15.

Simon Palmer and freshman point guard Holden Arnaman each had 11 and Thomas Gould had 10 points as six different Bears hit a 3-pointer.

“When everyone that is out there can score it just opens everything up because the other team has to be worried about everyone,” Palmer said. “If everyone is scoring teams don’t know what to do and it just escalates from there.”

After outscoring Regina 22-11 in the fourth quarter of a 67-53 win on Monday the Bears put the game away with a 13-2 four-quarter run on Tuesday.

West Branch shot 65 percent from the field in the second half including 5-of-7 from 3-point range.

“Their depth wore us down,” Belger said. “The thing they have going is not just an excellent coach but they have a lot of pieces, a lot of parts. They have about four guys capable of hitting the three so you know on a given night if two of them aren’t hitting there are going to be two that are and they know when to get those guys ball.”

Bowie had six of his team-high 16 points during the 13-2 fourth-quarter spurt that came after Regina cut the lead to seven on an Ashton Cook conventional three-point play 23 seconds into the fourth quarter.

“We decided we were going to turn the intensity up and we weren’t going to let them get any more open shots,” Bowie said. “We were able to slow them down and when our intensity picked our defense up that got our offense going and it all started to click.”

Everyone West Branch coach Jason Kern put on the floor on Tuesday seemed to excel in their role.

Bowie was a bully on the block scoring his team-high 16 points on 6-of-6 shooting.

Miller provided instant offense off the bench scoring 12 of his 15 points during the second quarter as West Branch scored 24 points to take a 35-31 halftime lead.

Palmer scored and created shots for teammates, Arnaman handled the ball as West Branch committed just eight turnovers and Gould did a little bit of everything with 10 points and five rebounds.

“Our guys are so unselfish,” Kern said. “They are fun to coach and fun to watch I think just because we don’t care who is going to score. We’ve got five or six guys that can put some points up so if they shut one thing down we are going to get someone else involved.”

Regina led 21-14 with 6:26 left in the first half but Miller sparked a West Branch rally.

The junior scored seven points during a 12-1 run that gave West Branch a 26-22 lead.

“Peyton Miller was huge for us tonight,” Kern said. “You have to have guys come off the bench and give you some energy and he’s starting to get some confidence in his 3-point shooting and that’s everything.

Regina gook the lead one final time at 31-29 on a pair of free throws by Charlie Crigger with 1:18 left in the first half.

Miller answered with a 3-pointer eight seconds later and Bowie converted a conventional 3-point play to give the Bears a four-point halftime lead.

“We focused on (Gavin) Hierseman and we focused on and Palmer and we slowed them down and thing was we were going to let Miller shoot and he beat us tonight,” Belger said. “They were going to win any way but it was going to be a close game if he didn’t play like that.”

Cook had 21 points and six rebounds to lead Regina (6-10) while Coltrae Kerschen added 15 points on five 3-pointers.

“Watching film of Regina earlier this year until now they are so much better,” Kern said. “I knew they were going to get off to a little slow start but they are an impressive group. They play hard.”

Regina                          15  16  14   7  –  52

West Branch              11  24  20  18 –  73

West Branch (73) – Peyton Miller 4-7 3-4 15, Holden Arnaman 3-4 3-3 11, Brady Knoop 1-1 0-0 3, Thomas Gould 4-12 1-2 10, Gavin Hierseman 2-5 0-0 5, Jeff Bowie 6-6 4-6 16, Cael Fiderlein 0-0 2-2 2, Simon Palmer 4-10 1-1 11, Totals 24-45 14-18 73.

Regina (52) – Jack Brandt 0-2 0-0 0, Charlie Crigger 2-8 2-2 6, Alec Wick 2-4 1-2 5, Nolan McDonald 0-1 0-0 0, Jack Tierney 1-6 0-0 2, Coltrae Kerschen 5-9 0-0 15, Kyle Schooley 0-1 0-0 0, Ashton Cook 8-17 5-6 21, Andrew Wiese 1-1 1-1 3, Totals 19-49 9-11 52.

3-point field goals – WB 11-22 (Miller 4-6, Arnaman 2-3, Knoop 1-1, Gould 1-4, Hierseman 1-4, Palmer 2-4), ICR 5-19 (Brandt 0-2, Crigger 0-2, McDonald 0-1, Tierney 0-2, Kerschen 5-9, Cook 0-3). Rebounds – WB 25 (Palmer 7), ICR 29 (Tierney 7). Turnovers – WB 8, ICR 11. Total fouls – WB 12, ICR 17. Fouled out – None. Technical fouls – None.

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