ROYAL — The Royal High boys saw their basketball season come to a close last week with a 58-49 loss to Naches at the SCAC district tournament, but the disappointment didn’t last long.

There was a look to the future which, next year, could see the first regional berth for Royal since the class 1A schools went to a regional setup. The team that missed by one game this year will nearly all be back next year.

These boys gave their coach and fans everything they had in every game, but their season was so convoluted that they never had a chance to get rolling.

“Regardless of the win-loss record, I am proud of the perseverance our kids have had this season,” coach Pete Christensen said. “It has been a fun and exciting season.”

Because of the long state championship season in football, the basketball program started the season 18 practices behind. That is not football’s fault. It just a matter of course for small schools.

In addition to being behind, many of the players were tired from the football campaign. At one time, Christensen worried they might not really want to play.

More than once, the Knights played four games over five dates. Three of the starters went down to injury on the same weekend.

“There were several games where two or three of the players never got to have a break,” Christensen recalled. “I would say this team gave their all for each other throughout this season.”

One of the positives of the season was fan turnout. Christensen noted it grew as the team battled game after game. The Knights became more of a running, and entertaining, team.

“I have to give a big shoutout to the student section for basketball this year,” Christensen said. “It is the first time since I have been at Royal that the students were involved in the game. I am hoping we can build on what was started this year and get even more students involved in the future.”

The Knights started their final game slowly. Naches led 21-10 after one quarter. The Knights came back in the second quarter, 15-9, then their shooting, as a team, went cold.

Only junior Kaden Jenks, who scored 24 points, had a good night, making 58 percent of his shots. Meanwhile the Ranger defense concentrated on sophomore Corbin Christensen and limited him to four points on one of 13 shots.

The game featured another double-double for Jenks, who pulled down 11 rebounds. Corbin Christensen had nine.

“It took a lot of commitment from the entire team to pull in the success we have had this year,” Christensen said. “After losing eight players from last year’s team, I feel excited with the potential this group of kids has. I can’t wait until summer when we can start it up again.”