Regina Stretches Win Streak to Four With Victory Over Tipton at Xtream Arena
Ryan Murken
Your Prep Sports
CORALVILLE – Any time a new coach takes over a team there is always a learning curve, some growing pains or an adjustment period.
For Regina and first-year head coach Paul Rundquist it appears the adjustment period has been relatively short.
Regina pushed its winning streak to four on Monday and remained unbeaten in River Valley Conference South Division play with a 58-39 win over Tipton (1-4) at Xtream Arena in Coralville.
“I feel like we are getting better,” Rundquist said. “As a coach you want to make sure you are improving practice to practice and game to game but I credit the kids because they have accepted the coaching and they’ve really tried to learn.”
Regina opened Rundquist’s first season with back-to-back road losses to Maquoketa and Benton Community.
Since the 0-2 start the Regals have rattled off four straight wins all by at least seven points highlighted by three consecutive wins over RVC South Division foes by a combined total of 67 points.
“The first two games were rough, we had a lot of turnovers and that was the main reason we were struggling,” Regina senior Michael Martin said. “These past four games we’ve slowed down and have been more patient on offense and our defense has been a lot cleaner and we’ve gotten a lot more stops.”
Regina was sharp on both ends of the court early on Monday while racing to a 13-2 lead in a little more than four minutes.
The Regals used a 15-3 first-quarter run to take a 17-5 lead that they would never give up.
Regina made eight of 12 field goal attempts in the first quarter but it was the Regina defense that set the tone early as the Regals forced Tipton in five first-quarter turnovers while building a 19-9 lead after one quarter.
“I think defensively we are just trying to be sound fundamentally,” Rundquist said. “Our first couple of games we weren’t and again I credit what the kids have done in practice where we are trying to continue to improve. Defensively I thought outside of the third quarter we were in a stance, we were talking and doing the little things that matter.”
Regina led 32-18 at the half and closed the third quarter on a 6-0 run after Tipton cut the lead to 38-32 with 1:45 remaining in the third quarter.
The Regals put the game out of reach with a 6-0 run to open the fourth quarter.
Regina held Tipton scoreless for more than five and a half minutes from the end of the third to the middle of the fourth quarter while outscoring the Tigers 12-0 during that span.
“Our offense isn’t one that is going to come out and score 80 or 90 points each game but I feel like if we can rely on our defense to shut teams down and consistently score 50 or 60 points we can win a lot of games that way,” Martin said.
Freshman Tate Wallace had a game-high 20 points to lead a balanced Regina offensive effort that had three players in double figures.
Wallace was 9-of-15 from the floor and grabbed seven rebounds as Regina shot 44 percent for the game.
“We were just trying to move the ball and get everyone involved and find open spots in the defense,” Wallace said. “We were able to get good shots.”
Martin had 11 points and senior Drew Streb had 10 points and six rebounds for Regina.
Andrew Greve added eight points for Regina which had just four turnovers.
Regina (4-2) travels to West Branch (3-1) on Tuesday for a meeting of RVC South Division unbeatens.
“It’s a big rivalry,” Martin said. “We just need to come out and play the way that play tomorrow. We need to get quality shots, be patient on offense and play good defense.
Tipton 9 9 14 7 – 39
Regina 19 13 12 14 – 58
Tipton (39) – Preston Daedlow 2-10 2-2 6, Clay Bohlmann 1-2 1-2 4, Ian Spangler 1-2 1-2 4, Carter Hermiston 0-0 0-2 0, Brody Marchik 2-8 0-0 4, Zach Binns 7-9 0-0 14, Jacob Barton 0-1 0-0 0, Zach Butler 3-8 1-1 7, Jacob Boedeker 0-5 0-0 0, Totals 16-45 5-9 39.
Regina (58) – Eddie Petersen 1-5 0-0 3, Andrew Greve 4-7 0-0 8, Michael Martin 4-9 1-2 11, Tate Wallace 9-15 2-4 20, Lincoln Dardis 0-2 0-0 0, Noah Clark 0-1 0-0 0, Will Litton 3-9 0-1 6, Drew Streb 4-9 2-2 10, Totals 25-57 5-9 58.
3-point field goals – TIP 2-10 (Daedlow 0-3, Bohlmann 1-1, Spangler 1-1, Marchik 0-3, Butler 0-1, Boedeker 0-1), ICR 3-11 (Petersen 1-4, Greve 0-1, Martin 2-4, Dardis 0-2). Rebounds – TIP 30 (Binns 11), ICR 34 (Wallace 7). Turnovers – TIP 11, ICR 4. Total fouls – TIP 9, ICR 11. Fouled out – None. Technical fouls – None.
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