The Regis boys basketball team 2021-2022
By Amelia Woods
Regis boys varsity basketball team in 2021- 2022 consisted of Jake Persons, Porter Vaughn, Tanner Manning, Grant Goesch, Nick Woods, Drew Dickey, Tristan McMullen, Roman Gould, Casey Voltin, Noah Koenig, and Isaiah Koehnke. Jason Koehnke, Drew Church, Matt Voltin, and Travis Woods coached them. There were a total of seven seniors on the team, with three of them being captains. Porter, Tristan, and Nick were the team captains for the season and did a great job of leading the team, both on and off the court. They ended the season with a record of 24-7 and scored a total of 1979 points throughout the season, taking the title of 2A-3 Central Valley Conference champions.
On February 19th, 2022, they narrowly beat out Jefferson to continue to the state playoffs. The game was tense, and it was a close game till the end. With 2.9 seconds remaining in the game, Regis was down 73-72. The ball was passed to Grant Goesch, who hit a buzzer-beating shot to secure the victory for Regis. While the gym exploded with the cheers of the Regis fans, everyone swarmed the team; one of the Regis players took the time to help up one of the Jefferson players who had fallen to the ground during the last play before walking over to celebrate with his team. Those types of gestures were usual from this team, who went on to win the sportsmanship award, which Regis hasn’t done in recent years.
The victory gave the home-court advantage and beat out Mannahouse Christian Academy to advance to the State Playoffs. Their first game was against Salem Academy, which they lost 49-59. They had led at halftime and had lost that lead in the 4th quarter. They were down by four and had to start fouling for a chance to win. It didn’t work, and they lost. This loss put them into the consolation bracket, and they soon faced off against Heppner, who was an energetic and hardworking team. They ended up winning with a score of 67-49.
Due to their determination and hard work, they made it to the consolidation final, where they beat Bonanza for the 4th-place title with a final score of 56-49. The Rams led the scoring for most of the game, and they pulled out a win, beating them by 7. This ended the tournament, and they did very well, taking fourth place overall. During the award ceremony, they were shocked to hear the announcer state that they had received the award for being part of the team with the best sportsmanship out of all the teams that participated. They went home satisfied and happy with the way they had performed.
Nick Woods, one of the seniors on the team at the time, said, “ It was a team effort, and it was nice to end off my high school career on a high note.” Since then, the Regis boys basketball team has been doing well, placing 4th again this year at Pendleton. Jason Koehnke is still the head coach, and there are a lot of young, talented players ready to take over the mantle of the future of the Regis basketball program.