By Jeremy McDonald
Jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com
STAYTON, Ore.– The Regis Boys Basketball team were tested and challenged in their 93-80 victory over Grant Union to advance to Pedleton for the fourth-straight year.
Up 16-1 pretty quickly after the tip, the Rams looked as if they’ll cruise to Pendleton until the Prospectors struck gold and went to their try-and-true calling card of playing hard and hustling. By the end of the first quarter, Grant Union drew Regis back in and trailed the Rams 22-18.
Twice in the second quarter, the Prospectors actually held leads of 31-30 and 36-35 on Regis as the heat was on the fifth-seed Rams to find an answer for the John Day-based squad. Regis led 40-39 at the halftime break.
“We came out in the locker room in the second half, we knew we had to come out and play hard, play hard on defense, pass the ball around. We ended up executing and ended up doing really well,” said Fletcher Gould. “It’s a great test for Pendleton. We’re going to get ready for Trinity Lutheran, and our plan is to go one game at a time.”
Grant Union and Regis continued to battle into the third quarter with the Prospectors leading 58-57 before Regis finished the quarter on a 9-2 run, taking a 66-60 lead into the final quarter of the game
That run proved to be the difference maker in this game as the Rams built off of that run into the fourth quarter and didn’t let the quarter break slow them down. By the 4:34 mark of the quarter, their six-point lead reached up to 18 as they led 80-62 and carried that momentum to the finish line Saturday afternoon to punch their ticket once more to Pendleton.
“We know we just can’t give up. We just keep going. It doesn’t matter how much we’re down by. We’re just going to keep going through the game the best we can,” said Lucas Koehnke. “The Portland Christian game, we were down by ten. It’s never over for us…(Grant Union’s) a tough team, all the teams from here on out are going to be good. After a win like that, it really boosted the confidence, so we’re all happy.”
Regis will play the winner of Trinity Lutheran-Crosshill Christian on Thursday at 3:15 at the Pendleton Convention Center in Pendleton as the Rams will look to reach the 2A State Semi’s for the first time during this recent stretch reaching Pendleton and the 2A State Playoffs. Regis are hoping that a chance of mindset, a more locking-in, of their mindset will help lead them into the Final Four this season.
“We really got to lock in with our mindset because I feel like Roman (Gould), Isaiah (Koenhke), they’ve been a huge part of this team. They have been for the past four years… I think this year we’re all ready to lock in and go one game at a time,” said Gould.
Isaiah Koehnke led Regis with 21 points, Fletcher Gould and Lucas Koehnke, each finished with 19 points.
Photos By Jeremy McDonald
