Royal's boys basketball at La Salle tonight

ROYAL CITY — Prep basketball’s second season – district and state – starts tonight for the Royal High boys at LaSalle High School in Yakima,

LaSalle finished second in the SCAC West with 15-5 record. By virtue of its third-place SCAC East finish, Royal, 7-13, drew LaSalle for the first round of districts.

The odds are against Royal winning tonight and making it out of district, but stranger things have happened. Part of that season record can be chalked up to forces not basketball.

“We are excited to be in the position we are in given the late start (because of football) and the number of injuries we were faced with,” coach Pete Christensen said. “The guys have done a fantastic job regardless of our record. We have had very competitive and exciting games all season long.”

Royal closed the regular season with a split. The Knights defeated Cle Elum in a non-league contest, 65-54, and dropped a contest to Kiona-Benton, 65-46.

The Cle Elum contest allowed Christensen to play some of the younger players a bit, and they played well. Still, the starters led the way. Kaden Jenks scored 19 points, Corbin Christensen got 15 and Owen Ellis had 13. Jenks completed a double-double with 11 rebounds.

Royal led, 29-26, at the half. Cle Elum tied the score, 43-all, at the end of the third period.

“Another exciting game,” Christensen said. “The second quarter was a bit rough, but we made a few adjustments at half time and things finally gelled in the fourth.”

Corbin Christensen saw limited time this game due to a tender ankle. That gave him a few more days to rehab and be ready for the team’s district run.

After the Cle Elum win, coach Christensen took a gamble. Practice nights leading up to the Ki-Be contest were dedicated to preparing for LaSalle.

“The Ki-Be game didn’t matter. We needed time to prepare for LaSalle,” coach Christensen said.

Royal was in the game through three quarters, trailing 36-30. A 19-6 fourth quarter pushed Ki-Be over the top.

Jenks was the scoring leader agains with 14 points. Corbin Christensen scored 10, and Owen Ellis had nine.

“We played well, but turnovers at the beginning of the fourth was our downfall,” coach Christensen said. “We had several possessions in a row where we were unable to get a shot off and Ki-Be took full advantage. Before we could right the ship, the game was too far out of reach. We will need to clean things up as we head into this playoff week.”