By Jeremy McDonald

jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com

SALEM, Ore.–  For about a quarter-and-a-half the Regis Boys were able to keep up with Cascade Christian and their six-foot-eleven big man in Austin Maurer in the Challengers 63-53 win over the Rams Friday.

Regis found themselves down three to the Southern Oregon 3A squad, down 23-20 behind some big shots from Noah Koenig and Isaiah Kohnke that had kept the Rams in prime position in possibly stealing one from Cascade Christian down the stretch.

As great of a start that was, there were some things that they could improve upon.  Helpside defense points Koenig, setting better screens adds Head Coach Jason Koehnke as the Challengers finished the half on a 17-4 run.

“Our goal right now is just keep getting better, but it is encouraging to play teams like that.  They make you better and we realize we got a lot of work to do when we play that team, just do some things like set better screens.  It shows holes that we can work on,” said Jason Koehnke.

Cascade Christian sustained their energy into the second half as they didn’t let the Rams get to closer than eight after stretching their lead to double-digits going into the third quarter.

“It was nice, I wished we would’ve come out with the win but we’re getting there, we’re building our team and we’ll do this season,” Koenig said.  “If we can hold our defense strongly, play as a team and not as one-on-one, we’ll have a shot at third.”

The Rams play for third-place for the Crusader Classic Black Bracket Saturday at 1:30pm against the loser of Salem Academy-Dayton.

Maurer finished with a game-high 27 points.  Isaiah Koehnke led Regis with 21 points and Koenig finished with 18 points

Photos By Jeremy McDonald