Knights move into third place

ROYAL CITY - The Royal High School boys basketball team has caught fire after recording three consecutive commanding wins last week.

As a result, the Knights have improved to 4-2 in the South Central A Conference East and 7-5 overall.

They take a break of sorts this week with a non-league home contest against Warden.

"They (the boys) are starting to relax and have fun," coach Pete Christensen said. "All of this generally equals a higher quality of play."

The final six game push toward the district tournament will begin on Jan. 24 with a SCAC East contest at Mabton.

The Vikings are 5-1 in second place. Kiona-Benton leads with a 6-0 mark.

Royal's rise through the division started with a victories at home over Wahluke Jan. 10, a win over River View Friday and then knocked off Columbia Burbank Saturday.

Royal 48, Burbank 33

In the game with Burbank, Royal fell back to its old ways, taking poor shots and missing to trail, 20-19, at the half. It exploded, 16-4, in the third period to create a big hole for the Coyotes.

"It took some time too create the openings we needed to get good looks at the basket," coach Christensen said.

The Knights were led by Kent Christensen who knocked down the 17 points. Brady Dixon and Frank Leitz scored seven points each.

Neil Leitz led the rebounding with seven. Reed Lefler added four.

"We had good input from Frank Leitz and Brady coming off the bench," Christensen said.

Royal 61, Wahluke 41

The win over Wahluke was built steadily over three quarters. The Knights led, 48-26, heading to the fourth period.

Kent Christensen had another big night with 19 points. He also pulled in six rebounds.

Others in double figure scoring were Danny Vermeer with 11 points and Lefler with 10. Dixon and Lefler corralled eight rebounds each, and Dixon made three steals. Vermeer had five assists.

Royal 47, River View 31

The victory over River View was the result of a commanding first half. The Knights led, 29-11, at intermission. They held the Panthers to single digits in the first and second periods.

"Even when things weren't falling for us, the guys stepped it up on defense," coach Christensen said.

Ricky Ramirez, who drilled two three-point shots, led the team with 10 points. Abel Castellon also nailed two three-pointers and totaled eight points. Kent Christensen was the second-leading scorer with nine points.