He mourns the recent loss of his father, but Paul Rundquist honors him with this good Iowa City Regina basketball team

WELLMAN - He pointed to the sky and said “This one was for him” Tuesday night.

Iowa City Regina head boys’ basketball coach Paul Rundquist lost his father this fall when Gordon Rundquist died after a quick illness. Gordon Rundquist is a Hall of Fame coach, and taught his son everything he knew about hoops when they were together at Maquoketa Valley High School.

The pair were on the same sideline at one point as assistant coaches, too, for Steve Bergman at Iowa City West. There is a gigantic void for Paul right now.

“There’s not a moment I don’t think about him,” Paul Rundquist said, after Regina beat Mid-Prairie, 62-51, Tuesday night to take hold of first place in the River Valley Conference’s West Division. “The craziest thing is these dreams. I had a dream about him last night. He was alive, and it was like ‘Dad, we’ve already had your funeral.’ He was just like laughing at me. You know dad. But he was my best friend, so it’s different. I would always call him on my way home from the game.”

Rundquist won his 400th career game this past Saturday when Regina won at New London. This was victory number 401, and it was a nice one.

Sophomore Will Litton had a team-high 19 points, and sophomore Tate Wallace added 16 for Regina (10-1 overall and 6-0 in the RVC West). The Regals have some size in those two young guys, as well as 6-foot-7 starting center Ben Wade, who’s just a freshman.

“Definitely growing in my body and being stronger,” said Litton, who is a lengthy 6-foot-4 forward who can score in the paint and from distance. “Just, like getting more shots up in the offseason has been big.”

Litton came into the game average 19.0 points and 10.5 rebounds this season.

“He’s a sophomore, he’s gotten stronger, he’s grown a little bit,” Paul Rundquist said. “When you’ve got a young team like that, you kind of throw them into the fire. Will played quite a bit last year, came off the bench. He got a little confidence from that. He wanted the ball.”

Regina grabbed a 17-13 lead after the first quarter, extended it to 32-25 at halftime and 50-40 after three quarters. Mid-Prairie (9-2, 4-1) picked up a big win last night against Williamsburg, so may have not have quite the legs ordinarily it would have.

The exception there certainly was senior guard Bryce Henry, who was wonderful in a 32-point game that saw him splash from beyond the 3-point line, drive to hole and drive and pullup for mid-range jumpers.

The kid’s a player.

“We’re young,” Rundquist said. “And when you play a team like that, that extends you 30 feet from the hoop. You guard so far away from the basketball, that’s a hard defend. I thought we followed the game plan real well. But some of those shots you just don’t think they are going to shoot them.”

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AT WELLMAN

IOWA CITY REGINA (62): Tate Wallace 6-9 4-4 16, Will Litton 7-11 3-4 19, Ben Wade 0-1 2-2 2, Drew Greve 5-12 0-0 10, Conner Nicpon 2-3 0-0 6, Tate Lynch 3-10 0-0 9, Trey Streb 0-0 0-0 0, Noah Clark 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 23-46 9-10 62.

MID-PRAIRIE (51): Hudson Ehrenfelt 1-3 0-0 2, Conner Wiles 0-3 0-0 0, Ace Peck 2-8 0-0 5, Brady Weber 1-6 2-2 4, Bryce Henry 12-20 2-2 32, Brooks Weber 0-9 0-0 0, Kaden Koss 1-4 2-4 4, Landon Kos 2-2 0-0 4. Totals 19-55 6-8 51.

Halftime - Regina 32, Mid-Prairie 25. 3-point goals - Regina 7-21 (Wallace 0-1, Litton 2-4, Greve 0-2, Nicpon 2-3, Lynch 3-10), Mid-Prairie 8-25 (Peck 1-7, Brady Weber 0-1, Henry 6-11, Brooks Weber 0-6). Rebounds - Regina 26 (Litton 9), Mid-Prairie 34 (Peck, Brady Weber, Henry 6). Total fouls - Regina 15, Mid-Prairie 12. Fouled out - None. Turnovers - Regina 5, Mid-Prairie 8.

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