Cook’s 29 guides I.C. Regina past Solon

SOLON - When a team has a player like Iowa City Regina has in Drew Cook, there's a specific effort to work the offense through him.

The 6-foot-5 senior - and Iowa Hawkeye football-player-to-be - had every manner of double team focused on him throughout the Class 2A No. 8 Regals' game at Class 3A Solon, but as has happened so many times, it didn't seem to matter.

Cook finished with 29 points and 11 rebounds to guide Regina (13-1) past Solon (5-8), 66-61.

'We wanted to establish more of the inside game, and they did a nice job of doubling and making the passes difficult,” said Regina Coach Stu Ordman. '(Cook) just carries us when otherwise we're struggling. He's so tough, that even when he's getting hammered and there's no fouls being called, he just stays with it and stays with it.

'He was terrific.”

Cook was effective on the offensive boards as much as anything when the Regals were in their set offense, nabbing a handful of putback buckets while drawing heavy contact.

But what was most fun for Cook and his Regina teammates was when they got a chance to run in transition. Ordman said after the game the Spartans are 'very fast, very athletic, very gifted offensively,” so the pace of the game was ratcheted up as a result.

'I thought getting out in transition, we'd able to either break down some of their guys and maybe draw fouls, or when our posts run, they at least go one-on-one,” Ordman said.

Given those chances, the Regals did some damage, highlighted by a first-half dunk in transition from Cook. When asked if he enjoyed that facet of the game, Cook was almost incredulous and responded through a laugh, 'Me? Yeah.”

'Late in games it gets tiring and stuff, but in transition you want to make sure you can beat your man down and see if you can get an easy bucket,” Cook said. 'We knew coming in the speed was going to increase. We wanted to be ready right away to pick up our intensity and try to match it, and that's what we did.”

On the flip side, Solon Coach Jason Pershing said he liked the effort his guys gave in defending both Cook and Phil Arendt, who had seven points of his own.

He also thought the flow of the game went just like he wanted, the difference being a lack of made shots on easy opportunities.

'The pace was perfect for us; we just missed baskets in the first half,” Pershing said. 'Those are shots in practice we hit. Getting down early always puts you at a deficit, and kids start rushing it.

'I think that's exactly where we wanted to be and I think the kids were comfortable with it, we just didn't make baskets.”

Regina next faces Wilton and home on Tuesday night. Solon goes on the road to West Delaware the same day.

AT SOLON

IOWA CITY REGINA (66): Nathan Stenger 3-9 5-8 11, Conner Brown 0-2 0-2 0, Ethan Suchomel 2-5 1-6 7, Nick Phillips 2-5 5-8 10, Drew Cook 12-22 4-5 29, Phil Arendt 3-4 1-2 7, Nicolas Ziniel 1-1 0-0 2, Thomas Rapp 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 23-48 16-31 66.

SOLON (61): Emilio Villagrana 6-18 3-5 16, Jackson Rushek 2-4 0-2 6, Streeter McIlravy 5-14 2-2 12, Halston Durr 4-14 0-0 12, Jake Schaeckenbach 3-8 6-7 11, Brandan Childs 0-0 0-0 0, Cameron Fitzpatrick 0-0 0-0 0, Dylan Doyle 1-2 0-1 3. Totals 21-60 11-17 61.

Halftime – Iowa City Regina 32, Solon 19. 3-point goals – Regina 4-11 (Stenger 0-2, Brown 0-1, Suchomel 2-3, Phillips 1-1, Cook 1-4). Solon 8-26 (Villagrana 1-7, Rushek 2-2, McIlravy 0-3, Durr 4-11, Schaeckenbach 0-2, Doyle 1-1). Rebounds – Regina 31 (Cook 11), Solon 24 (Schaeckenbach 11). Total fouls – Regina 13, Solon 23. Fouled out – Villagrana, Schaeckenbach (Solon). Turnovers – Regina 11, Solon 11.

l Comments: (319) 368-8884; jeremiah.davis@thegazette.com