ROYAL CITY - Trying to follow up a dramatic overtime win at Warden the previous evening ended up being too much to ask for the Royal Knights on Saturday night.

In their South Central Athletic Conference (SCAC) East opener, the Knights fell 55-46 to Kiona-Benton as a late rally fell short.

"The game did not go as we would have liked," Royal head coach Pete Christensen said. "We still aren't firing on all cylinders but we have our moments. We still are having troubles taking care of the ball."

Royal (1-4, 0-1) ended the night with 28 turnovers and shot 6-for-16 from the foul line, while hitting 29 percent of their shots from the field.

Kent Christensen led Royal with 17 points and eight rebounds and Danny Vermeer added 10 points.

The Knights trailed by 18 points in the fourth quarter before cutting the deficit to six until time ran out.

"We are a much better team than we are playing at this time," Pete Christensen said. "I am hoping we can get all of the bugs worked out in the next couple of weeks before the main push of league games start."