Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

WEST BRANCH – Regina raced to an early 9-0 lead on Saturday against Solon only to see the early advantage slip away in a 63-42 setback to the Spartans.

The Regals got up early again on Tuesday only this time there was no looking back.

Regina scored the first seven points of the game and never let up in a 59-31 win over West Branch in a River Valley Conference South Division showdown in West Branch.

Tate Wallace scored a game-high 22 points and Regina limited West Branch to 39 percent shooting and a season-low scoring output while improving to 4-1 on the season.

“Saturday didn’t go our way, Solon is a great team but we knew coming in we had to get back at it,” Wallace said. “They are a good team, they have good shooters and good players across the court so we really focused on getting the ball side to side and taking long offensive possessions and I think we did a good job tonight.”

Regina bolted to a 7-0 lead less than two minutes into the game, led 17-5 after the opening quarter and never let West Branch (3-3) back into the game.

Drew Greve had nine points and Jack O’Leary and Will Litton each had eight for Regina as the Regals shot 55 percent from the floor.

“We got stops defensively and I thought we were moving a little more fluid offensively,” Regina coach Paul Rundquist said. “We made them guard in the half court and I thought we controlled tempo. That’s a good team, a senior-laden team so we are definitely happy with the result.”

Following its first loss of the season on Saturday at Solon the Regals were focused from the outset on Tuesday.

Sophomore Ben Wade had four points and junior Miles Nuzback hit a 3-pointer during the opening 7-0 run for Regina on Tuesday.

Regina closed the quarter on a 6-1 run capped by a driving layup by Greve that just beat the first-quarter buzzer.

“We brought them in on Sunday for an hour and went over some stuff but it was mostly just going over some things mentally,” Rundquist said. “We are pretty experienced and have good leadership so hopefully that carries us.”

Regina led 30-15 at the half and never let West Branch get any closer.

The Regals shot 60 percent in the second half with Wallace doing most of the damage from point blank range.

The 6-foot-2 junior was 10-of-14 from the floor and scored 12 of his game-high 22 in the second half.

“We want to get the ball in the paint and a lot of it is positioning and trying to get that position and hold it,” Rundquist said. “It’s a work in progress but we did a better job today.”

Regina didn’t let West Branch get anything going offensively.

The Regals limited the Bears to just 33 field goal attempts while forcing 16 turnovers.

Jayden Harris led West Branch with 11 points while Brennen Dale had seven and Brandon Pedersen had six for West Branch.

“It was the offensive rebounds on Saturday that kind of killed us but today we did a good job with that, finishing defensive possessions,” Wallace said. “We always want to attack the boards and that really helped us today.”

Regina travels to Tipton (0-5) on Friday to close out its December schedule while West Branch hosts West Liberty (1-2) on Friday.

“We are trying to start a winning streak like we have the last couple of years,” Wallace said. “We want to start that and we know we have to keep grinding in practice and finishing it off with Tipton on Friday and it’s a whole new season after break.”

Regina                        17  13  17  12  –  59

West Branch             5   10  11   5   –  31

Regina (59) – Emmett Burke 1-2 0-0 2, Jack O’Leary 3-5 0-0 8, Drew Greve 4-8 0-0 9, Tate Wallace 10-14 2-5 22, Miles Nuzback 2-4 0-0 6, Will Litton 4-10 0-0 8, Ben Wade 2-4 0-0 4, Totals 26-47 2-5 59.

West Branch (31) – Michael Montgomery 1-3 0-0 2, Jayden Harris 5-9 1-2 11, Brandon Pedersen 2-3 0-0 6, Brennen Dale 3-5 0-2 7, Lincoln Naber 1-5 0-4 2, Cody Maddux 0-5 0-0 0, Bryce Anderson 0-1 0-0 0, Haydon Haines 0-1 0-0 0, McGavin Smith 1-1 0-0 3, Totals 13-33 1-8 31.

3-point field goal – ICR 5-11 (Burke 0-1, O’Leary 2-2, Greve 1-2, Nuzback 2-4, Litton 0-2), WB 4-9 (Pedersen 2-3, Maddux 0-3, Dale 1-2, Smith 1-1). Rebounds – ICR 22 (Litton 6), WB 23 (Naber 9). Turnovers – ICR 4, WB 16. Total fouls – ICR 9, WB 9. Fouled out – None. Technical fouls – None.

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