Royal boys defeat Connell, drop Mabton heart-breaker

ROYAL CITY - It was a split last week in boys basketball for Royal High School, and it could have easily been a sweep.

The Knights dropped an overtime heart-breaker at Mabton, 55-51, and then stung Connell, 50-29. Their records stand at 1-2 in the South Central A Conference East and 4-5 overall.

Those records could be 2-1 and 5-4, but a glowing opportunity at the end of regulation in the Mabton contest fell by the wayside.

With three seconds left in regular time and no times out to take, Mabton called for a clock stoppage. That led to a technical foul against the Vikings with the scored tied at 47-47.

Both free throws were missed by the Knights, and Mabton escaped defeat. The Vikings went on to win the fourth period, 8-4.

"We had our chance to win it," said coach Pete Christensen.

Royal did not give Connell a chance to escape. It built a 29-15 half-time lead and pulled away from there.

"After Friday's disappointing loss, the guys came out relaxed and ready to play," Christensen said. "This was a well-played game."

Shooting 66 and 60 percent respectively, Danny Vermeer and Neil Leitz led the team with 13 points each.

"Neil had a great game," Christensen said. "Danny shot well."

Brady Dixon and Reed Lefler led the rebounding with seven boards each. Kent Christensen took down six.

Against Mabton, the scoring leader with 15 points was Kent Christensen. Leitz added 12, and Lefler had 10.

Kent Christensen led with nine rebounds, Frank Leitz had seven, Neil Leitz six and Dixon five. Ricky Ramirez and Vermeer picked off five steals, and Kent Christensen got four.

Royal will seek to level its SCAC East record at 2-2 against the rival Wahluke Warriors at Wahluke tonight. Friday and Saturday the Knights will travel to Riverview and Burbank.