Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

IOWA CITY – Whether it’s coming from opposing defenses or media seeking interviews it is senior Holden Arnaman that has gotten most of the attention for West Branch this season.

When you rank in the top 15 in the state in scoring at over 24 points per game like Arnaman is the attention is certainly deserved.

However, in the most crucial moment of the biggest game of the season to date it was the often-overlooked senior in the West Branch lineup that came up big.

Reese Trepanier buried a 3-pointer from the wing off an Arnaman feed with under two minutes to play to give West Branch the lead for good in a 55-49 win over Class 2A No. 10 Regina in a River Valley Conference South Division showdown on Friday in Iowa City.

“Reese steps up,” Kern said. “He’s a big time player and in a big time game he’s going to step up, we know he is. Those kind of guys knock down those shots.”

Arnaman had a game-high 27 points but it was the late 3-pointer by Trepanier with West Branch trialing by a point that sparked a late 9-0 Bear rally.

Trepanier’s triple with 1:49 remaining gave West Branch a 49-47 lead it would never give up as the Bears avenged a eight-point December loss to Regina and pulled even with the Regals in the loss column in the RVC South Division standings.

“I expect him to hit that shot,” Arnaman said. “We rep that in practice and he’s a great shooter so I have full confidence he is going to hit that shot.”

Trepanier finished with 14 points and seven rebounds as West Branch improved to 12-5 on the season and 7-1 in RVC South Division play.

Regina had a 13-game winning streak snapped with the loss and dropped to 13-3 on the season and 8-1 in RVC South action.

“For us I think it was a must win,” Trepanier said. “That ties us for the conference lead, it gets us a better seeding and they are our rival so it’s a big one.”

West Branch scored the first four points of the game and raced to a 16-5 lead after the first quarter.

The Bears led 27-18 at the half, holding Regina to 41 percent first-half shooting while forcing eight turnovers.

“Our kids locked in tonight, I was so proud of them,” Kern said. “The first half I think the only points we got were off us gambling on some things and offensive rebounds and putbacks but other than that guarding wise we were great.”

West Branch appeared to have things under control leading 44-32 entering the fourth quarter.
Regina roared back.

The Regals opened the fourth quarter with 13 unanswered points, taking their first lead of the game at 45-44 on a Michael Martin bucket with 3:01 remaining.

The teams traded baskets and Regina led 47-46 when Eddie Petersen scored off a well-executed sideline out of bounds play with 2:18 remaining.

Trailing by a point the Bears turned to Trepanier.

Arnaman drove and kicked a pass out to Trepanier for an opening 3-pointer.

“I’ve been working on that, Holden and I have run that play a lot,” Trepanier said. “We have confidence to run that.”

The second 3-pointer of the game for Trepanier gave West Branch a 49-47 lead with 1:49 remaining.

You look at the kid he’s a little chubby and he looks like he just sits on the farm 24-7 but he’s a dog,” Arnaman said of Trepanier. “He’s one of the best players you will every play with. He’s a competitor, he just competes his butt off.”

West Branch made six consecutive free throws over the next minute to put the game away.

Sophomore Michael Martin made a pair of free throws with 1:29 remaining and Arnaman hit four in a row to close out the game.

“I feel like we’ve been playing together our whole lives,” Trepanier said. “Stuff like that has happened before we just had to keep our composure up and keep those younger guys up. I think they are the biggest stars of the game.”

Freshman Tate Wallace had 16 points to lead Regina while Michael Martin had 11 and Drew Streb eight for the Regals.

West Branch              16  11  17  11  –  55   

Regina                          5   13  14  17  –  49                                                                 

West Branch (55) – Nathan Hills 1-3 0-2 2, Cameron Gingerich 1-1 0-0 2, Holden Arnaman 10-20 5-6 27, Jayden Harris 0-2 0-0 0, Brennen Dale 2-5 2-2 6, Reese Trepanier 6-12 0-0 14, Michael Montgomery 1-2 2-2 4, Totals 21-45 9-12 55.

Regina (49) – Eddie Petersen 3-5 0-0 7, Andrew Greve 0-1 0-0 0, Connor Nicpon 1-2 0-0 3, Michael Martin 5-11 0-0 11, Tate Wallace 7-12 1-6 16, Will Litton 1-1 0-0 2, Lucas Schechinger 0-0 2-4 2, Drew Streb 4-7 0-0 8, Totals 21-39 3-10 49.

3-point field goals – WB 4-15 (Hills 0-1, Arnaman 2-8, Harris 0-1, Dale 0-2, Trepanier 2-3), ICR 4-11 (Petersen 1-3, Nicpon 1-2, Martin 1-4, Wallace 1-2). Rebounds – WB 24 (Trepanier 7), ICR 24 (Martin 6). Turnovers – WB 8, ICR 12. Total fouls – WB 9, ICR 16. Fouled out – None. Technical fouls – None.

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