Royals Take Blue Mt. by 14

By Nathan McShinsky

The South Royalton Royals were hosts to Blue Mountain Union on the 12th and they had a much needed good performance resulting in a win. SoRo used a 19-4 first quarter for a jump start and got them rolling for the win, 66-52. 

BMU was held to just a three-pointer at the 6:54 mark and a foul shot with 2:27 left in the first as the Royals had a very impressive shut-down defense quarter right from the tip off. The Royals held a 15-point lead after just 8:00 of ball. The Royals’ center Miles Ellis carried the way with nine points in the quarter that included the first five of the game.

The second quarter looked similar to the first except BMU got into double digits. The Royals kept scoring and ended with 18 points in the quarter while Blue Mountain put up 11. SoRo had a 37-15 half time, 22-point lead. BMU started to hit the open shots, but SoRo balanced that with Nick Enright who had eight of his 12 points in the quarter. 

The second half started out evenly, but eventually BMU started to catch fire putting up 21 in the quarter. SoRo added 15 to give the Royals a smaller lead of 16, 52-36, with just eight minutes remaining. By the end of this quarter however this game had gotten very rough and aggressive with both teams doing some pushing and shoving.

In the final quarter the Royals’ lead only shrunk by two to give them a much-needed 14-point win, 66-52.

This game was called very tight by the night’s referees and the Royals’ only missed opportunity was at the line where they were just 9-24. Both teams were in foul trouble early in the second half, which included four Royals players ending the game with four fouls. BMU also had three technical fouls in the game.

The Royals were led by Darren Slack and Tyrell Manning who each had 14 points, Slack had six of his 14 in the second while Manning hit two big threes on his way to 14. James Jobin lead BMU with 16 points.

The Royals (3-6) take the two hour bus trip to D-III rivals Twin Valley on Saturday for a big matchup and then travel to nearby Chelsea on Monday.

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