After brilliant half, Royal boys hoops team struggles
ROYAL CITY — It could be that the long football season finally caught up with the Royal High basketball team afterall — last weekend.
The Knights, who started fast against Cle Elum to open the season a week earlier, continued their hot pace for a half at Warden last Friday with 19-7 second quarter and 31-18 halftime lead. Then they ran out of gas.
Warden, 4-1, came back to win, 63-58. Warden closed the gap with a 21-15 third quarter and ran away with a 24-12 fourth quarter.
Coach Pete Christensen said he could see the signs of weariness. The shooting percentage went down rapidly, especially on 3-pointers. Only one was made after intermission.
The Knights picked up the pace on Saturday but couldn’t maintain it to the end and lost, 53-46, to River View. Again they led early and lost late.
The good news was that even on a bad weekend, the Knights were in both contests with winning clubs. Christensen noted his team had fourth-quarter leads both nights and was still ahead with less than two minutes against River View.
“We shot more than 40 three-pointers (over two games) with very little success,” coach Christensen said. “We had only 16 turnovers, but nine of them came in the fourth quarter.”
Against Warden, Royal was led on offense by the 20 points of Owen Ellis and 17 of Kaden Jenks. But Corbin Christensen was held to 13 points, and Gage Christensen was held scoreless. Isaac Ellis scored seven points, and Osiel Ramirez had 1.
Royal did not start hot at home against River View but, again, it won the first half. The Knights led, 14-11 after one period. They were still ahead, 38-37 after three periods.
More Royal players contributed on offense, but there was no breakout performance to lead the way. Owen Ellis led the scoring with 13 points. Corbin Christensen was next with 10 points. Isaac Ellis scored eight points, Gage Christensen scored six, Jenks got five, and Ramirez and Jaimen Smith had two each.
The Knights play a SCAC East contest at Burbank tonight. Then they’ll rest until the Dec. 30 Wilbur Ellis Invitational at the Sun Dome in Yakima.
The trick coach Christensen has to pull off over the next nine days is to get in some meaningful practice and, at the same time, give the boys some rest. And he needs to find a way to keep their spirits up,
“These boys are used to winning (in football),” he said. “They take it pretty hard when they lose.”
Despite last weekend’s setback, coach Christensen believes these players have the height, the speed and the overall talent to make it to the state tournament.