Rivalry Saturday - Solid priorities for M-P's Miller

CEDAR RAPIDS - This is a big weekend for Tanner Miller. He's having an official visit with the University of Iowa football program, taking a tour of U of I facilities Saturday morning and hanging out with a Hawkeye player Saturday night.

But the young man has his priorities, and Saturday afternoon that was to be with his Mid-Prairie basketball team.

“I couldn't miss this game,” Miller said after he helped the Golden Hawks past rival Iowa City Regina, 57-48, during Rivalry Saturday at the U.S. Cellular Center. “They probably would have understood if I would have stayed (in Iowa City) the whole time. But I needed to be with my team.”

Miller has committed to play football for Northern Iowa and said his plans “right now” are to sign his letter of intent Wednesday. Iowa wants him as a preferred walk-on safety.

 If something falls through late with one of the Hawkeyes' commitments, that could change.

“I'm just looking at things,” said Miller, who rushed for 1,800-plus yards this season. “I don't know. It's always been my dream to play Division I ball. I'm just seeing what (Iowa) has to say. You never know.”

 This was a nice comeback win for Mid-Prairie (11-5), not in the rally sense, but from a two-point overtime loss Friday night to Cedar Valley Conference rival North Cedar. M-P led by a close margin the entire way, holding Regina (11-5) to 24-percent second-half shooting to hang on.

 Miller had a team-high 13 points, with forward Kaleb Duwa adding 10.

“You get beat in overtime in a game that lasted forever, you don't get home until after midnight, then come back and have to play today,” said Mid-Prairie Coach Don Showalter. I tell you our kids showed a lot of heart and desire today.”

 Regina, which lost by 20 in the teams' earlier meeting this season, got a double-double of 15 points and 12 rebounds from 6-foot-6 center Braden Lehman.

“That's pretty good against a triple team the entire game,” said Regina Coach Randy Larson.

Here's the game boxscore:

AT U.S. CELLULAR CENTER

MID-PRAIRIE (57): Mark Aldeman 2-5 3-3 7, Quinn Hollan 1-5 1-2 3, Tanner Miller 6-13 1-2 13, Dylan Hochstetler 4-4 0-0 8, Kaleb Duwa 4-10 2-2 10, Robby Mostek 0-0 0-0 0, Michael Aldeman 3-8 2-2 9, Aaron Smit 0-2 0-0 0, Jordan Yotty 3-3 1-1 7. Totals 23-50 10-12 57.

IOWA CITY REGINA (48): Ryan Lynch 0-7 1-2 1, Sean Sullivan 1-4 4-4 7, Kevin Arnold 0-1 1-2 1, Braden Lehman 6-20 3-4 15, Jacoby Firkins 5-5 0-1 10, Paul Jensen 1-1 0-0 3, Daniel Larew 0-1 0-0 0, Daniel Amelon 0-3 0-0 0, Ryan Westemeyer 2-5 1-2 5, Ross Westemeyer 2-6 0-0 6, Drew Coffin 0-0 0-0 0, George Sehl 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 17-53 10-15 48.

Halftime - Mid-Prairie 28, Regina 26. 3-point goals - Mid-Prairie 1-9 (Ma. Aldeman 0-1, Hollan 0-1, Miller 0-1, Duwa 0-2, Mi. Aldeman 1-4), Regina 4-19 (Lynch 0-5, Sullivan 1-3, Jensen 1-1, Amelon 0-3, Ry. Westemeyer 0-2, Ro. Westemeyer 2-5). Rebounds - Mid-Prairie 37 (Hochstetler 8), Regina 30 (Lehman 12). Total fouls - Mid-Prairie 14, Regina 13. Fouled out - Hochstetler. Assists - Mid-Prairie 7 (Miller 3), Regina 10 (Lynch, Sullivan, Arnold, Ry. Westemeyer 2). Turnovers - Mid-Prairie 13, Regina 12.