Douglas Miles

Your Prep Sports

MUSCATINE – It was a fitting moment for the season’s first slam dunk.

Regina junior forward Will Litton had yet to throw one down this season.

But when presented with a breakaway opportunity in the closing seconds of a Class 2A boys basketball substate final, Litton provided the perfect punctuation to a Regals’ victory.

“It felt really good,” Litton said after posting a game-high 16 points in third-ranked Regina’s 51-37 win over Northeast Saturday night at Muscatine. “It was my first one all year.”

The win sends Regina (22-1) to the state tournament for the second time in three years and 13^th time overall.

When it faces Aplington-Parkersburg in the 2A quarterfinal round begin on March 11 at 3:45 p.m. at Casey’s Center in Des Moines, the Regals will bring along a 19-game winning streak.

“We just try and be ourselves,” Regina coach Paul Rundquist said. “Take care of how we play and hope that is good enough.”

After a back-and-forth first quarter, Regina got some breathing room with a 9-0 burst that bled into the third quarter.

After surrendering 18 points to Northeast in the first nine minutes of the game, Regina held the Rebels to just 19 over the final 39 minutes.

“Defensively, we just started helping, really sagging on (Northeast’s Jaxen) Christiansen,” Regina junior forward Tate Wallace said. “He’s going to shoot the ball from everywhere. Really just going back to our basics, what we’ve done all year. Defense has won us games.”

Wallace added 13 points for Regina, which missed out on the state tournament last year when it lost in a substate semifinal.

Litton and Wallace led the way for that group, as well, but have been boosted this season by the development of 6-foot-9 sophomore forward Ben Wade, plus incoming transfers Emmett Burke (Lone Tree), Miles Nuzback (Carroll) and Jack O’Leary (West High).

“Three great additions to our basketball team,” Wallace said of the transfers. “Emmett Burke and Jack O’Leary, I can’t say enough about them. Seniors coming in here for their senior seasons and just giving it their all. They have been great additions. They have fit in perfectly.”

O’Leary scored all of his 11 points after halftime, which included a pair of three-point baskets in the third quarter, plus five crucial free throws in the final minute as Regina scored the final eight points of the contest.

After scoring just five points in the second quarter, the Regals registered 30 after halftime.

“We just stayed composed,” Litton said. “We just attacked it in the paint and got the ball inside. We just played our game, pushed in transition.”

With 13 points, Christiansen was held way below his season average of 21.9 points per game for Northeast, which ends its season at 17-8.

Northeast       14  4   9  10  –  37

Regina            16  5  14 16  –  51

Northeast (37) – Maxzen Eskildsen 1 0-0 2, Jaxen Christiansen 5 1-3 13, Colby Gray 2 2-2 7, Connor Soesbe 3 0-2 6, Jade Mielk 0 0-0 0, Emerson Kreinbrink 3 3-4 9, Totals 14 6-11 37.

Regina (51) – Ben Wade 3 0-1 6, Tate Wallace 5 3-7 13, Will Litton 7 2-2 16, Jack O’Leary 2 5-6 11, Miles Nuzback 0 0-2 0, Drew Greve 1 1-2 3, Emmett Burke 1 0-0 2, Totals 19 11-20 51.

Three-point goals – Northeast 3 (Christiansen 2, Gray 1), Iowa City Regina 2 (O’Leary 2). Total fouls: Northeast 13, Iowa City Regina 13. Fouled out – None. Technical fouls – None.

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