Douglas Miles

Your Prep Sports

MOUNT VERNON – Regina’s defensive philosophy is simple.

Hold the opponent below its scoring average, stay in the game and make the critical plays at the end to win.

Tasked with playing the rare role of underdog, the plan worked to perfection.

“That’s what we did tonight,” Regina senior forward Drew Streb said after the Regals upended Alburnett, 55-51, in a Class 2A boys’ basketball district final Tuesday night at Mount Vernon High School. “We really focused on our defense and we were calm on offense to get good shots.”

Alburnett (19-4) entered the district final with 15 wins in a row and a scoring average of nearly 65 points per game, but was held to just six points in the second quarter as Regina built a 28-21 halftime advantage.

“We’re a little bit deliberate with the basketball,” first-year Regina Coach Paul Rundquist said. “We’re not going to come down and take a quick shot. We’re going to make you guard for a lot of the shot clock and hopefully, if we’re running our actions correctly, we should get a decent look.”

Regina’s lead got as large as nine points midway through the third quarter at 35-26 before Alburnett charged back.

The Pirates used a 17-7 surge to reclaim the advantage at 43-42 with 3:08 to go.

Regina’s response?

Turn up the defense again.

“We knew we had to come out and play defense,” Regina senior Michael Martin said. “Our offense consistently gets good looks. We take our time getting looks on offense, so we know that if we continue to get stops and then continue to play well on offense, we’ll win the game.”

Streb helped Regina flip the score back in the Regals’ favor by grabbing three of his team-high five rebounds in the final two-plus minutes.

“That’s what I love to do,” Streb said. “I love to get the dirty work and get all those boards at the end of the game that turn the tide and set the tone.”

Martin led all scorers with 28 points, including a perfect 5 for 5 from the free-throw line in the final 42 seconds of the game.

With Regina trailing, 48-47, Martin drew a foul while in the act of attempting a 3-pointer.

He calmly stepped to the line and gave the Regals the lead for good by draining all three free throws.

“I was surprised with that call a little bit,” Martin said. “But I thought I had a window, so I shot a three and got the foul with it. So we’ll take that. I know I just need to take them one at a time. Not stress about it. Take a breath. Just take your time.”

Regina (16-6) closed the game with eight of the final 11 points, all from the free-throw line.

The Regals can earn their first trip to the state tournament since 2019 with a win in Saturday’s 2A substate final against No. 5 Pella Christian (18-5) at Liberty High School.

For senior starters like Martin, Streb and Eddie Petersen – who Rundquist calls “as good a senior leaders as I’ve ever had” – a first state berth would be the perfect capper to their prep careers.

“We’ve been playing together all throughout our years,” Streb said. “From elementary up. We all know each other. It is a smaller school, so we know everyone on the team. We are friends with everybody. We just try to bring guys up because it is all one team. If we build each other up, it is only going to help us out. One rebound is a team’s rebound. One score is a team’s score. We all just work together.”

Regina             9   19  12  15  –  55

Alburnett       15   6   13  17  –  51

Regina (55) – Eddie Petersen 1 3-4 6, Connor Nicpon 0 0-0 0, Michael Martin 8 10-11 28, Tate Wallace 3 1-2 8, Drew Streb 1 2-2 4, Will Litton 1 0-0 2, Lucas Schechinger 2 3-6 7, Andrew Greve 0 0-0 0, Totals 16 19-25 55.

Alburnett (51) – Jordan Caton 2 1-2 6, Braydon Osborn 5 1-1 13, Payton Baker 0 0-0 0, Rylen Rozek 1 0-0 3, Matthew Neighbor 7 5-7 19, Josiah Steen 0 0-0 0, Brayden Smith 4 0-0 10, Totals 19 7-10 51.

Three-point goals – ICR 4 (Martin 2, Petersen 1, Wallace 1); ALB 6 (Caton 1, Smith 2, Rozek 1, Osborn 2). Rebounds – ICR 21 (Streb 5); ALB24 (Neighbor 12); Total fouls – ICR 17, ALB 19. Fouled out – None. Technical fouls – None.

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