Knights advance to state 1A quarterfinals

ELLENSBURG — The Royal High School boys basketball team advanced to the quarterfinal round of the WIAA Class 1A state tournament with a 65-47 win over Meridian (Bellingham) on Feb. 28 at Ellensburg High School.  

Royal Coach Greg Jenks credited the Knights' defense and rebounding.  

“We held them, I want to say six points below their previous low of the year,” Jenks said. “They scored 47 (points) and they hadn’t been in the 40s all year.” 

Royal led 15-13 at the end of the first quarter and the lead gradually expanded from there, Jenks said. Royal held Meridian to eight points in the second quarter to lead 29-21 at the half. The Knights outscored Meridian in all four quarters. 

“Playing our game is focusing on defense and being able to get out and go (on offense) and showing good execution on offense. When we’re playing our best, we’re holding teams below their season average. And we’ve done that in almost every game this year,” Jenks said.  

Rebounding has been a focus for Royal all season, he said. 

“We’re always going to feel like we need to get better at rebounding – I don’t think we’ll ever stop on that,” Jenks said. “We learned that a year ago at the state tournament, that you’d better be always be working on it.” 

The Knights outrebounded a taller Meridian team. 

“There were only 50 total rebounds – they did a good job of slowing down the game. They knew they didn’t want us out and running, and they did a good job of being patient. So there were fewer rebounds total. But we were able to win the rebound battle by six, so that was definitely key for us.”  

Offensive rebounds helped the Knights extend their lead in the third quarter, he said.  

“I saw patience on offense, execution of the game plan both offensively and defensively,” Jenks said. “What we had practiced during the week, we saw it show up on Friday night, and that was really good to see.” 

Royal will play the winner of a Wednesday loser-out game between Chelan and The Bear Creek School. Game time for the quarterfinals is 9 p.m. Thursday at the Sundome in Yakima. The winner of that game will advance to the semifinals on Friday.  

Box score 

RYL: 15-14-18-18 65
MDN: 13-8-14-12  47 

    Royal’s Fischer Livingston (12) passes the ball in a league game earlier this season. The Knights advanced to the state quarterfinals with a win Friday.