Landon Swingler knew how important Monday’s 65-38 win over Parkway Christian was for the Regents School boys basketball team.
“This is what we’ve been working for all year,” said Swingler, who poured in 22 points to lead the Lions. “We just won regionals and we’re going for states.”
The win gave Regents the program’s first state tournament win as they advanced to the Virginia Association of Christian Athletics semifinals Friday at Ridgeview Christian in Stuarts Draft.
Getting that first state playoff win for the fledgling program in their home gym at the Covenant Church was particularly sweet.
The top-seeded Lions really got going Monday when they forced a 10-second violation with 3:56 left in the second quarter when they switched to a press. Then threes started dropping from outside as that stingy defense led to offense.
“We really played as a team, really focused on defense and really worked the ball around,” Swingler said. “(Hitting threes) makes them close out on all of us and that gives me the driving lane to go, create and find my teammates.”
Drew Martin came off the bench and caught fire, hitting three 3-pointers in that stretch to turn a tight game where the Lions led just 9-6 after the first quarter, into a runaway by halftime.
“I told them not to fall in love with the three but at that time we needed it,” said Regents coach Travis Johnson. “We had some state jitters at the beginning of the game and couldn’t get in the flow, then kind of the gates opened up and we played well from there.”
Swingler scored 20 of his 22 after the break as Regents kept Parkway at arm’s length. The Lions’ point forward, Swingler does a little bit of everything for Regents, playing the tip of the spear spot in the trapping press in addition to his offensive responsibilities.
“He’s whatever we need,” Johnson said. “Landon does whatever it is that’s required of him. He’s getting there one step at a time and to see his maturity level as he’s getting toward the end of the season, he’s starting to take control of the team and that’s exactly what we want from him.”
Renigar rounded out the bulk of the offense with 14 points while Martin finished with his nine from the second quarter and Jimmy Stewart notched nine as well.
Regents will jump into the VACA semifinals Friday just two wins away from its first state title.
“Coming here four years ago with one team from sixth to 12th grade, all on one team and now here we are the No. 1 seed and having a chance to advance,” Johnson said. “This is the first year that we could actually play in the postseason because we had too many homeschoolers before now. To have a game here, to do it here, was great.”
