Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

IOWA CITY – Regina lost a total of one home game last season.

That lone home loss was a 55-49 senior night setback to rival West Branch.

The Regals got a little revenge on its RVC rivals and remained unbeaten at home this season with a 58-54 win over West Branch in an RVC South Division thriller on Tuesday.

“The game last year, that was our last loss at home so it feels good to get that against them,” Regina senior Tate Lynch said. “It feels good to get this one and now we’ll go to their place and try to get another one over there.”

Sophomore Will Litton scored 14 of his 23 points in the second half as Regina (5-1) held off an inspired West Branch team.

Jayden Harris poured in a game-high 25 points for West Branch and gave the Bears a 54-53 lead with a steal and layup with 3:23 remaining.

Regina responded by scoring the final five points of the game and holding the Bears scoreless over the final 3:23 to push its winning streak to five.

“You have to win ugly sometimes,” Regina coach Paul Rundquist said. “We got in early foul trouble and we hadn’t practiced our zone much but as the second half went we kind of figured it out. You have to find a way sometimes.”

Litton battled foul trouble all game and spent extended minutes on the bench in both halves due to fouls.

The 6-foot-4 sophomore still managed to come up with the game’s biggest plays.

He scored the first 10 second-half points for Regina and was 5-of-6 from the floor in the second half.

“We weren’t getting the ball side to side like we need to and that was the biggest change we made on offense,” Litton said. “We got the ball moving and I was able to get some good looks.”

Litton gave Regina the lead for good with a bucket in the paint with 1:43 remaining.

“Tate (Wallace) got it down low and he squared up and I just cut,” Litton said. “I was wide open and they all collapsed on me but I got the and one.”

Litton added another short jumper with 28 seconds remaining that gave the Regals a 57-54 advantage.

“He’s pretty composed for a sophomore,” Rundquist said. “We have to do a better job of finishing through contact but he did a nice job late in a hard-fought game.”

West Branch (1-5) trailed by as many as 11 in the first half but closed the second quarter with a 14-4 burst that cut the lead to 31-30.

Harris had nine points during the 14-4 run to end the half including five points in a 6-0 West Branch spurt over the final 1:09 of the second quarter.

“Tonight we battled, we got down nine or ten and we went on that run to end the second quarter,” West Branch coach Jason Kern said. “Defensively we were so much better tonight, we really challenged our guys on Sunday and Monday and we needed to take a step in the right direction and go back to the basics and we did that tonight.”

Regina led 47-46 after the third quarter and took a 53-48 on a Drew Greve bucket with 6:23 remaining.

West Branch had one final run, a 6-0 burst fueled by back-to-back buckets by Harris that gave the Bears a 54-53 lead with 3:23 to play.

“The biggest thing with Jayden is, especially the first couple of games if his shot wasn’t falling he let that affect the rest of his game,” Kern said. “I told him you cannot let how you are shooting dictate the rest of your game and the past two games he’s had 22 on Friday and 25 tonight and he can go get it and we are going to need him to average about 20 a night to be in basketball games.”

Brennen Dale had nine points and Brandon Pickett added eight points and eight rebounds for West Branch.

Tate Lynch had 12 points and Tate Wallace had 10 points for Regina while Greve had eight points and eight rebounds.

“Every time we play West Branch, no matter the sport it’s going to be a close game,” Lynch said. “That’s what you expect in a rivalry game.”

West Branch            13  17  16   8  –  54

Regina                        17  14  16  11 –  58

West Branch (54) – Nathan Hills 1-6 3-4 5, Brandon Pedersen 1-5 0-0 3, Brennen Dale 4-7 1-1 9, Lincoln Naber 0-3 1-2 1, Jayden Harris 11-20 0-0 25, Ethan Miller 1-3 0-0 3, Brandon Pickett 3-8 1-2 8, Totals 21-52 6-9 54.

Regina (58) – Connor Nicpon 1-7 0-0 3, Drew Greve 4-11 0-1 8, Tate Wallace 2-6 6-9 10, Will Litton 9-13 4-6 23, Ben Wade 1-2 0-0 2, Tate Lynch 4-9 0-0 12, Totals 21-48 10-16 58.

3-point field goals – West Branch 6-19 (Hills 0-4, Pedersen 1-3, Harris 3-7, Miller 1-3, Pickett 1-2), Regina 6-15 (Nicpon 1-5, Greve 0-1, Litton 1-2, Lynch 4-7). Rebounds – West Branch 33 (Pickett 8), Regina 33 (Greve 8). Total fouls – West Branch 13, Regina 14. Turnovers – West Branch 6, Regina 9. Fouled out – None. Technical fouls – None.

Did you enjoy this subscription free article? Help keep Your Prep Sports free by donating.