Royal boys improve, lose two

ROYAL CITY - Royal's boys welcomed Chase Christensen back from a football injury last weekend and played their best back-to-back prep basketball games of the year.

They were not blown out.

On Friday, the Knights played tough the full game in a 64-52 loss to Warden. On Saturday they led through three periods before falling, 67-55 to Kiona-Benton.

"Having Chase back is allowing us to rotate players and keep us a bit more fresh as the game goes on," coach Pete Christensen.

Christensen led in scoring both nights with 11 points against Warden and 17 against Ki-Be. Aaron Smith also had 11 points against Warden.

"We are getting more productive on offense but slipping a bit defensively," Pete Christensen said. "We will work on balancing the two of them. The only big drawback I see offensively is being a bit more patient on offense."

The Warden game included 10 rebounds by Teddy Mead, eight by Chase Christensen and seven by Riley Lefler.

"We hit Warden when they were having their best day this year," Pete Christensen said. "We had a lot of open looks but couldn't get the ball to fall some times."

"This was Chase Christensen's first game back," he added. "With the foul trouble we got in early, we needed his bigger body."

Johnson scored 11 points again against Ki-Be. Chase Christensen and Riley Lefler grabbed four rebounds each.