Central Lee bows out at Regina

IOWA CITY – Central Lee Head Coach Jonny Swanson said the culture of basketball at Central Lee is changing.
And he said after the Hawks (15-8) hung with the state’s 3rd best team in Class 2A for about three and half quarters before falling 66-41 in the Substate 5, District 9 championship game at Iowa City Regina.
“The big thing with our four seniors, we just talked about it's been just an honor to coach and have in our program. They are such a fun group,” Swanson said.
“These guys went from 4 wins to 11, to 13, and now 15. So they reset the standard and culture of what it means to be a Central Lee basketball player.”
He said Will Hayes, Owen Swan, Ward Fraise, and Brody Moeller helped put Central Lee basketball back on the map.
“They, as a collective group, reset the standard of how you play, how hard you practice, all those things and, realistically, that will carry on. We’ve got a good junior group and that’s gonna just keep carrying on,” he said.
“On the court, that’s a special group, but it’s the off the court stuff where you build the culture.”
This was the first time the Hawks have been to the district championship since the 2017-18 season when they played Wapello in the substate semifinals.
 The No. 3 Regals pulled away in the third quarter with a 9-0 run where they hit 5-of-7 from the field and held Central Lee scoreless after an Owen Swan putback cut the lead to seven at 35-28 about three minutes into the third period.
The Hawks wouldn’t score again until Hayes was able to score inside trying to cut into the pesky Regina man-to-man defense. At that point they were down 14 and the momentum began to wane, allowing the Regals to pull away by as much as 23 in the 4th quarter.
The first half however, the Hawks matched up despite an 0-8 run off the opening tip. Iowa City had five players in double figures and that balance showed as four different players scored to open the first quarter while Central Lee tried to find their legs in hostile territory.

But Hayes had a nice low pass inside to Carson Morrison after he stumbled to the ground on the dribble for the Hawks' first points of the game. From that point on through the first half, the Hawks stayed within three points aside from a couple back-to-back 3 balls from Regina to end the first quarter up 16-8.
Central Lee would cut that lead to just three on several occasions in the second quarter, both times prompting Regina Head Coach Paul Rundquist off the bench. The Hawks didn’t get many looks from 3-point range with the lanky Regals moving very quickly in a man-to-man set and keeping perimeter movement tight.
But Owen Swan found the range with 4:02 left in the half to cut the lead to 22-19. Regina’s Will Litton would answer with a bucket underneath and a foul. He would convert the freebie and then Central Lee’s Brett Cook would answer with his own hoop and harm at the other end to make it 25-22.
Regina would push the lead to nine at 35-26 before Kaden Swan buried a half-court shot off the glass at the buzzer that would have cut the game to six at the half and give the Hawks a little momentum. One official called the basket good while another waved it off, and after a confab at center court, the shot was ruled to have been released after the horn, giving Swanson pause before heading into the lockerroom down 35-26.
Central Lee cut the lead to seven at 37-30 out of the lockerroom on a steal and layup from Kaden Swan, but that would start the 9-0 Regal run and leave the Hawks in the wake.
Swanson said he thought the Hawks played a strong first half, but Regina converted six buckets off offensive rebounds underneath and that was the story.
“Really, we just thought we could hang with them, defensively. We knew they play tough inside and that would be the biggest question mark - can we play post defense and stop these guys from scoring?” he said.
“In the first half, I thought we did a really good job, but the one thing with these guys is they score so many points off second chance. Our first shot defense was pretty good for most of the night."
The Regals also shot 17-20 from the freethrow line after shooting a mediocre 58% on the season, Swanson said. He said the Hawks just couldn’t get open on the perimeter and that was a big deficit with a team that plays so physical inside.
“We weren’t able to take many threes. They did a good job of staying with our shooters, so we didn’t get many open looks. They’re so physical and strong and that’s just something we knew coming in.”
Hayes, and Owen, and Kaden Swan all had 10 points in the loss. Morrison, Kaden Swan, and Cook all had three boards for the Hawks.
Litton led the Regals with 17 points. They will play Northeast in the Substate 5 championship with the winner advancing to the Class 2A State Tournament.