Mount Vernon's young guns brush past Regina

SOLON - They still haven't lost to a Class 2A team.The Mount Vernon Mustangs didn't come that close to losing to one Tuesday night, playing as fine a first half as you'll see and riding it to a 73-63 win over Iowa City Regina in a 2A district final.This team is so young, with sophomores as their two leading scorers, but it's also so good. Good enough to be 18-5 despite being in a 3A conference (the Wamac).MV plays North Cedar for a trip to the state tournament Saturday night at 7 at Cedar Rapids Jefferson. The Mustangs won the regular-season encounter in early December by 22."We've had a lot of experiences together," said forward Connor Herrmann. "We've been to a lot of open gyms, worked hard in practice, played in a lot of AAU tournaments in the summer and stuff. We've just developed the skills that we need.""It's been fun," said Mount Vernon point guard Tommy Hook. "We're all friends, we all hang out with each other off the court. It has surprised me. About the middle of the year, I realized we had something special and that we could do something good."MV had a 12-game win streak snapped in its regular-season finale last week, but that's only been a blip. It shredded Regina's defense early, shooting 60 percent in the first half to build a 39-23 lead.Hook could not be contained, as he fearlessly penetrated the lane time after time, finishing with 31 points, 20 in the first half. The Regals (19-4) went to a full-court defense out of necessity in the second half and flustered Mount Vernon enough to get within five with a smidge over two minutes left.It also helped that guard Nathan Stenger went on a shooting rampage that included four third-quarter 3-pointers. But the kids held on.And these are kids, with only two seniors who see significant playing time."Mount Vernon is a heck of a team," said Regina's Drew Cook, whose 22 points were three under his season average. "A 16-point deficit at halftime is not what you want. I thought we came out ready to go, had a good game plan. It just wasn't enough.""They've really meshed together well," said Mount Vernon Coach Wes Bruns. "We played in a CRANDIC sophomore tournament two years ago when these guys were going into their freshman year. We played against Wash, we played against Kennedy and Linn-Mar and North Scott. We went 4-1 in that tournament and only lost to Iowa City West."Bruns is in his first season as head coach. You might remember him as former head man at Cedar Rapids Xavier.Mount Vernon won the 2012 2A state championship behind a senior-laden team that had played and grown together since they were freshmen. Sound familiar?The Mustangs were 8-15 last season, but they're right back in familiar victorious territory."I always tell the kids that every year is different," said Bruns, who was an assistant for Ed Timm, who stepped down as head coach after last season. "Leave your own legacy. The kids have really bought into what they are doing as a team this year. They learn from everything we do, try to learn everything. We have a lot of philosophies that are similar ... There have been a lot of positives. We're still alive, we're still playing, so that's good."

AT SOLON

MOUNT VERNON (73): Nolan Teubel 2-6 0-2 4, Connor Herrmann 6-12 6-6 18, Andy Decamp 2-3 4-5 9, Tommy Hook 9-15 12-14 31, Jake Pisarik 3-5 0-0 4, Adam Ketelsen 0-2 0-0 0, Robbie Peters 2-3 1-1 5, Luke Eldred 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 24-46 23-28 73.

IOWA CITY REGINA (63): Phil Arendt 5-8 6-6 16, Drew Cook 8-14 5-7 22, Nicholas Phillips 1-2 0-0 3, Nathan Stenger 4-14 5-6 17, Conner Brown 1-3 2-2 5, Ethan Suchomel 0-0 0-0, Nicolas Ziniel 0-1 0-0 0, Mike Sehl 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 19-43 18-21 63.

Halftime - Mount Vernon 39, Regina 23.

3-point goals - Mount Vernon 2-5 (Teubel 0-2, Decamp 1-2, Hook 1-1), Regina 7-19 (Cook 1-4, Phillips 1-2, Stenger 4-8, Brown 1-3, Ziniel 0-1, Sehl 0-1).

Rebounds - Mount Vernon 29 (Herrmann 8), Regina 18 (Cook 7).

Total fouls - Mount Vernon 18, Regina 18.

Fouled out - None.

Turnovers - Mount Vernon 10, Regina 12.