Iowa City Regina’s season ends in boys’ state basketball tournament, but a lot of hope for the future

DES MOINES — The standards have been set. Or reset considering the history of the Iowa City Regina boys’ basketball program.

No, the Regals didn’t win their state tournament game Monday night. Western Christian is, well, Western Christian.

The top-ranked and top-seeded Wolfpack were just too good for Regina in a 56-34 Class 2A quarterfinal win at Wells Fargo Arena.

Western has been on the big stage in Des Moines 24 times and won it all 10 times. That’s really good.

Regina’s obviously not there, yet, but the arrow is pointing up under first-year head coach Paul Rundquist. Winning 17 games this season, knocking off fifth-ranked Pella Christian in a substate final and getting here was a heck of an accomplishment for the Regals, who’d won 22 games combined the previous three seasons.

“I hope this sets the bar for what Regina basketball can be under Coach Rundquist,” said Regina’s Drew Streb.

“I think we did (set the standard),” said Regina’s Michael Martin. “He came in and turned the program around. So I hope we laid a foundation for future guys to come in and keep this going.”

Regina wasn’t overwhelmed in this game. It ran shot clock on offense and stuck around most of the way.

The Regals had a 6-4 lead late in the first quarter but went on a scoreless drought that lasted four minutes and 18 seconds. Another four-minute drought followed to open the second half.

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The initial drought allowed Western Christian (21-3) to go on an 11-0 run in the first half for a lead it never relinquished. The second one allowed Western to take as much as an 18-point lead in the third quarter.

“They’re a very good basketball team,” said Regina’s Tate Wallace. “They’re very fast, they’re all shooters, they all can drive. I just thought they moved very, very well.”

It was 27-15 Wolfpack at the half. They did a fine job defensively, making everything offensively difficult for Regina.

Six-foot-3 junior guard Kaden VanRegenmorter, one of two returning starters from last year’s 2A state runner-up team, is a very hard guard with his size and ability to handle and penetrate. He scored 13 first-half points for Western and finished with a game-high 19.

The other returning starter, Karsten Moret had 14 second-half points to finish with 18.

“A lot of us have been here before,” VanRegenmorter said. “So we were mentally prepared for this.”

Contrarily, Regina leading scorer Martin found the going rough. So good all season, including the postseason, he finished with 13 points on 4-of-17 shooting.

“They just don’t let you run your offense like you’re used to,” Martin said. “They get on the boards and are just physical.”

He is one of three senior starters on this team, but there is talent in the younger classes. The standard, she’s been set.

Or reset.

“I feel like we have a very young team now,” said Wallace, who started as a freshman. “It can only go up from here. This is just the standard and hopefully we can get better throughout the years. Coach Rundquist did a great job flipping this program around. Last year we weren’t too good, but this year we definitely turned it around.”

“If you’d have asked me after we lost our second game of the year to Benton Community if I’d have taken being an 8-seed at the state tournament? Absolutely, yeah,” Rundquist said. “I credit our seniors. We got super great leadership. It’s never enjoyable to lose. But if you want to lose, you want to lose here.“

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Photos: Regina vs. Western Christian in Class 2A boys’ state basketball quarterfinals

Western Christian 56, Iowa City Regina 34

AT WELLS FARGO ARENA

IOWA CITY REGINA (34): Tate Wallace 3-8 0-1 7, Michael Martin 4-17 3-4 13, Drew Streb 2-6 0-1 4, Eddie Petersen 1-2 0-0 2, Connor Nicpon 0-2 0-0 0, Lucas Schechinger 1-5 1-2 4, Will Litton 2-5 0-0 4, Andrew Greve 0-0 0-0 0, Tate Lynch 0-0 0-0 0, Lincoln Dardis 0-1 0-0 0, Matt Colony 0-0 09-0 0, Noah Clark 0-0 0-0 0, Erwin Njoroge 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 13-47 4-8 34.

WESTERN CHRISTIAN (56): Ty Mantel 3-7 0-0 6, Caleb Douma 0-4 0-0 0, Kaden VanRegenmorter 8-14 2-2 19, Uchan Harberts 2-5 0-0 4, Karsten Moret 7-15 2-2 18, Kaden DeJaeger 0-0 0-0 0, Landon De Stigter 3-6 1-1 9, Brody Van Kley 0-1 0-0 0, Noah Hilbrands 0-1 0-0 0, Lane Maassen 0-0 0-0 0, J.D. Nielsen 0-0 0-0 0, Barret Bleeker 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 23-53 5-7 56.

Halftime - Western Christian 27, Regina 15. 3-point goals - Regina 4-15 (Petersen 0-1, Nicpon 0-1, Martin 2-8, Wallace 1-1, Njoroge 0-1, Schechinger 1-3), Western Christian 5-15 (Moret 2-3, Douma 0-2, Harberts 0-1, VanRegenmorter 1-5, De Stigter 2-4). Rebounds - Regina 29 (Wallace, Streb 5), Western Christian 39 (Mantel 11, VanRegenmorter 10). Total fouls - Regina 14, Western Christian 7. Fouled out - Petersen. Assists - Regina 5 (Petersen 3), Western Christian 7 (VanRegenmorter 3). Turnovers - Regina 16, Western Christian 13.

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