Royal boys reverse themselves win three games

ROYAL CITY - Just when things were looking down, the Royal High boys turned a corner and won three basketball games last week. They stand at 4-3.

"Great week of basketball for our guys," coach Pete Christensen said.

Several players contributed in each of the games, but Chase Christensen was a model of consistency. He scored in double figures in all three games for a total of 42.

"We now have a couple of weeks through the Christmas break to polish some of the challenges we are working through this season," coach Christensen said.

Royal's next two games will be played at home against White Swan on Jan. 2 and Connell Jan. 3.

Last week's victories were 51-46 over Cascade, 58-53 over Wahluke and 49-41 over Warden.

Royal took a 46-35 lead over Cascade at the end of three quarters then spent the fourth hanging on.

"The outcome was very much like the other games last week," coach Christensen said. "We are getting better at closing out for the win in these tight games. We had a 21-point lead that dwindled to within 5 by the end of the game."

Riley Lefler led the Knights with 14 points. He was backed by the 13 of Chase Christensen.

Christensen nabbed eight rebounds, and Kaden Jenks had six. Aaron Johnson made four assists, and Lefler had three. Lefler picked off two steals.

It appeared Royal would blow Wahluke out with a 16-4 first quarter. But the Warriors closed to within 29-27 at the half.

The Knights were led by Chase Christensen's 19 points. Lefler had nine, and Teddy Mead and Jonathan Partida scored eight each.

Christensen pulled down 13 rebounds, and Mead grabbed 10. Partida had five assists and three steals.

Colin Ahmann led the Warriors with 27 points.

"As much as we tried, we still struggled to corral Ahmann," coach Christensen said. "We had a great showing from Chase with several smooth drives to the hoop. Other than that, we had a pretty nice balance of scoring from Riley, Teddy and the Partida brothers."

"It was a hard fought night," coach added. "We had a fairly balanced scoring night that was just enough to hold on for a win."

The Warden game, which was a matter of revenge for the Knights, marked the return to form of Johnson. He put down 17 points to lead his team. Chase Christensen scored 10.

Mead led in rebounds with nine. Jenks and Lefler had four points each.

"Another good game," coach said. "We started out a bit slow, trailing at half by nine, but we were confident things would turn around for us."

The Knights trailed, 28-19 at the half. They held the Cougars to five and eight points in the third and fourth quarters.

"The second half was a great turn around," coach said. "We were able to shut down their outside shooting. and we doubled our rebounding production."