Royals Lose One And Win One
By Dustin Parker

The Royals suffered their first loss of the season in a close game last Friday, losing to Twin Valley, 51-44.

South Royalton came out strong in the first quarter with six points from Miles Ellis. Dustin Parker had all five of his points in the first, and Tyrell Manning hit the first of his two threes. Joey Kinnarney and Cal Wilmot each had two points apiece in the opening period. The Royals’ strong defense held the Wildcats to only six points.

The second quarter was much closer than the first. The Royals only scored seven points, with Jake Timian, Manning, Kinnarney and Ellis all contributing. Twin Valley exploded with a 14-point quarter. Heading into the locker room, the Royals maintained a close lead, 25-20.

The third quarter was another low-scoring period for the Royals. Ellis added four more, Manning hit his second three of the night, and Kinnarney added two. After three periods of play, the Royals had lost their lead and were trailing 39-34.

In the fourth quarter, South Royalton would have to dig deep to pull out the win. Ellis added seven to his point total of ten, and Kinnarney finished with seven. The Royals lost the contest 51-44.

Candon Rusin, who was averaging 25 points a game, led the Wildcats with 17. Ian Marquis added 14 points for Twin Valley.

After the game coach Jaimie Kinnarney commented, "We came out with great intensity, but they just wore us down in the second half."

Win vs. Black River

The Royals got back to winning fashion on Tuesday night at VTC as a part of the MVL/CVL challenge. The game would be won literally in the final seconds.

Both teams had a low-scoring first quarter with Ellis, Cal Wilmot and Manning each scoring two points. Kinnarney added four points, and after one quarter of play, the Royals led 10-6. The second quarter was even closer. Kinnarney and Ellis had two apiece, and Manning added four more to his total. At halftime, the Royals had lost their lead and were trailing 22-18.

The third quarter was a dogfight for the lead. Parker scored all seven of his points in the third, and Wilmot added five. Timian also got four, and Manning hit from downtown. The Royals tied it up with Black River at 39 apiece.

Wilmot took over in the fourth quarter with eight points and led the Royals with 15. Kinnarney, Timian, and Manning all added three points each.

Kinnarney’s third point of the quarter could not have come at a better time. The Royals got a steal and pushed the ball up court, passed it off to Kinnarney, and in the process of a lay-up, he was fouled. Kinnarney missed the first one, and nailed the second. With little time left on the clock, Black River threw a "Hail Mary" pass that was deflected by Manning.

Manning finished the night with 12 points for South Royalton, Kinnarney had 10, Timian seven.

Bobby Rohrig would lead all scorers in the game with 21 points for Black River. Anthony Simms would also have a double digit scoring night with 14. Coach Kinnarney said, "Some of us found ourselves, and we just need to build off of what we did well tonight."

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