Iowa City Regina falls victim to Treynor rally

DES MOINES - It was 36 years between state basketball finals appearances for the Iowa City Regina Regals.

It had to seem that long by the time the final buzzer sounded and the postgame festivities began. Ah, those elongated television timeouts.

Treynor staged a furious fourth-quarter comeback that stunned Regina and just about everyone else at Wells Fargo Arena, 51-46, in Friday night's Class 2A championship game.

Regina (22-5) led by 11 points with 3:10 left in the third quarter and by eight a minute into the fourth but couldn't hold on. The pressure from an aggressive, trapping Treynor defense cracked the Regals, with the pressure of the moment seeming to contribute also.

'These guys are winners,” said Regina Coach Stu Ordman. 'They are extremely disappointed not to make the plays. But they put themselves in the position to be successful. In time, you have to keep that in perspective.”

Regina's Drew Cook was named the captain of the 2A All-Tournament Team. He had 18 points in the first half to give his team a 30-25 halftime lead but was limited to five in the second.

Facing a double-team every time he touched the ball inside, he was forced to go outside for most of his points, making five 3-pointers.

'Their 1-3-1 really got to us and stopped us a lot,” he said. 'That really caused some problems for us. They were able to close the gap.”

After a short jumper from Cook gave Regina a 43-35 lead a minute into the fourth, Treynor went on a 9-0 run to take its first lead since 6-5 in the first quarter. Forcing turnovers were crucial to that run.

Missed free throws also were critical, as the Regals missed a pair of one-and-ones. Phil Arendt made one of two with 3:14 left to tie the game at 44, but Treynor (24-3) went right back ahead on a Matt Deitchler offensive-rebound putback, and the Cardinals never trailed again.

'We never quit,” said Treynor's Nolan Chapman, who had a team-high 17 points. 'The fourth quarter is ours. We came together as a team and said ‘We are going to win this game.'”

'This is what our team is,” said Treynor Coach Scott Rucker. 'I think it's the toughest team in the state.”

Regina had a pair of 3-point attempts in the final 25 seconds to tie it, including a wide-open corner try from Nathan Stenger. Neither fell.

Chapman hit a pair of free throws with 11 seconds left to put the game out of reach.

'I think we wanted to make plays and came out of how we usually break that,” Ordman said. 'I thought we let one mistake lead to another. We were a little reluctant to use a timeout because you only have three. But I'm very proud of the way the guys played and what we did.”

Regina took a lead into the break, thanks to the five points it scored at the end of the first two quarters. Nick Phillips drove the length of the floor and pulled up for a straight-on 3-pointer just before the first-quarter buzzer, then Stenger hit a tough fadeaway baseline jumper over the outstretched arms of a defender as the second-quarter buzzer sounded.

This was all pretty much Cook's half, though. He got the game's first two points on an inside layup off a nifty feed from Phil Arendt, but did most of his damage from behind the arc, splashing four 3s on five attempts.

Treynor doubled the Iowa Hawkeye football signee whenever he touched the ball on the block, so he meandered his way to the outside, showing off his versatility. That led to 18 points.

Treynor countered offensively by pounding and pounding the ball to the interior. The Cardinals made 8 of their 14 field-goal attempts, mostly because they were all in the paint.

Six-foot-six center Jacob Flathers was particularly strong, with a 10-point, six-rebound half. Trey Robinson had eight points and Chapman seven, the only three players to score.