SoRo Royals
Improve to 8-3
By Dustin Parker

On Tuesday the Royals boys’ team traveled to Chelsea to take on the Red Devils. This was a close game in the first half.

The Royals jumped out first with a bucket from Miles Ellis off of a Tyrell Manning miss. On the Royals' next possession Manning hit a deep two. The Royals continued to fight for offensive boards in the first quarter with Joey Kinnarney and Jake Timian each getting rebounds and putting them back in. Dustin Parker made a three-pointer, and after a quarter of play, the Royals held the slimmest of margins, 12-11.

The second quarter was a challenge for SoRo, because they would get a lead and the Red Devils would keep fighting back. The first bucket of the second quarter for the Royals came from J. Timian off another rebound.

On Chelsea's next possession, Wilmot got a steal and took it all the way. Chelsea inbounded the ball, and Wilmot stole it and laid it in for two more. Wilmot stole one more inbounded pass and drove to the basket, but missed. He got his own rebound, however, and dished it to Jack Howe for a 15-foot jumper. At halftime, the score was deadlocked at 20.

In the third quarter the Royals took off running. Kinnarney got fouled on the offensive board and made the first, but missed the second. The Royals got the rebound and worked it around until they got a decent look and found Timian under the hoop for an easy two points. Kinnarney got a lay-in from the left side, and T. Manning hit a three-pointer from the corner to put SoRo ahead.

On Chelsea's next possession, the Royals grabbed a rebound and threw a Hail Mary pass to Colin Judge at the other end of the court for two points. Ellis helped with two quick rebounds and a put-back. After the third quarter the Royals had taken a 35-26 lead.

The fourth quarter was more of the same for the Royals, as well as cleaning up on the rebounds. Timian and Ellis each got two points from grabbing rebounds, T. Manning got two fade-away jump shots from the lane, and Wilmot added a jump shot from 10 feet away.

The Royals came away victorious in this one, 45-36. Wilmot and Manning led the Royals with nine points apiece. Chelsea’s Jim Welch led all scorers with 11.

Loss @ Twin Valley

Last Saturday the Royals traveled an hour and 45 minutes to Twin Valley. SoRo lost the last four meetings in Twin Valley, and lost this one, 67-55.

The Royals came right out of the gun in the first with a rebound from Ellis and the put-back. Timian stole and scored and followed that with two offensive rebounds and put them back in for six points in the first quarter. Kinnarney also had a rebound that he put back in for two points. However, after one quarter, the score was close, but the Royals were on the wrong end, 16-13.

Kinnarney had another put-back to lead off the second quarter. Parker hit a three-pointer for his only points of the game, and Ellis was a beast in the second quarter, racking up 12 points, including two old-fashioned three-pointers by making the shot and the foul shot. At halftime the Royals were still trailing, 39-30.

Timian continued to dominate the rebounding in the third and added six points in the quarter. Manning hit a jump-shot from the corner for his only two points of the game, while Ellis had another outstanding quarter with eight points, including two three-pointers. After three quarters, the Royals had fought back to get the score at 49-47.

The Royals only had eight points in the fourth quarter, four from Ellis on offensive rebounds that he put back in, and the other four from Kinnarney. Ellis had 27 points, but that was not enough to match Twin Valley’s Candon Rusin’s 37.