ROYAL CITY - The Royal boys bested Warden, 55-38, to highlight prep basketball last week, but the South Central A Conference East season got off to a rocky start with a 49-39 loss to Kiona-Benton.

The three-game week also saw the Knights fall to Naches, 54-43, and left coach Pete Christensen with the question of how to improve team shooting. He hopes to come up with the answer during the Christmas break.

"This is a team that gives you 100 percent hustle from tip-off to final whistle," he said.

Royal has a non-league contest at Kittitas tonight and then rests until Jan. 3, when Mabton comes to town.

Christensen believes the offense is not the problem. The team is taking 65 percent of its shots from within the key. It's simply misfiring.

In the loss to Naches, the Knights shot 27 percent. Against Ki-Be they shot 32 percent. Danny Vermeer led the club in scoring both nights with nine and 10 points respectively.

Even in the win, the Knights had their struggles. They turned the ball over 26 times and were a fair 41 percent from the floor overall . But they missed 13 of 16 three-point shots.

"We should have been more patient with our shot selection," Christensen said. "We had a spell of turnovers which we need to clean up, but we countered with lots of steals of our own."

Royal's leading scorers against Warden were Kent Christensen and Neil Leitz with 12 and 11 points respectively. Leitz had a hot night, hitting five of seven attempts.

"Neil came out with a purpose and played with excellent controlled aggression," Christensen said.

Vermeer had a big overall night. He connected for nine points, collected five rebounds, made four steals and handed out two assists.