ROYAL CITY — The Royal High School boys basketball team is 1-6, but coach Pete Christensen is not in a panic. He still believes his team can make the district and be successful there.

The reason for the optimism was the performance of the Knights at the SunDome against 4A Franklin-Pierce and a good Mt. Baker team last week. Both teams pulled out close wins.

Franklin-Pierce won, 60-56, with a 26-14 third quarter. Mt Baker won, 82-77, in overtime after Royal tied the score with a 17-13 fourth quarter.

“We did everything right except turnovers in the fourth quarter (in both games),” Christensen said.

Christensen has been trying to figure out how to allow his boys to play their best. They played a wide-open running game last week, and it worked for them.

But it was limited success because of fatigue. In order to keep doing that, the team will need to have greater contribution from the bench. The starters, or even the top seven, can’t run the whole game.

Another challenge for Christensen was cold shooting at the start of each half against FP. The Knights didn’t score until 1:46 remained in the first quarter with FP leading, 10-0. FP won the frame, 16-6.

Part of the problem was Royal’s full court defense. The deep defender posted himself at mid-court and allowed several break-away lay-ins.

Christensen moved that defender to the right position in the second period, and Royal made a stirring comeback, stealing the ball and running to several break-aways. The Knights won the period, 21-9, and took a 29-25 halftime lead.

But Royal shooting went cold in the third period, and the Cardinal took the lead. Royal won the fourth quarter, 13-9, but it was too little too late.

Owen Ellis scored 21 points to lead Royal scorers. Corbin Christensen had 15, Kaden Jenks eight, Isaac Ellis five, Osiel Ramirez three, Juan Ojeda two and Gage Christensen two.

Mt Baker broke away early to lead, 23-14 after one period against the again-cold-shooting Knights. Then Royal heated up. It won each of the next three periods to tie the score at 77 at the end of regulation.

A big factor the long comeback was the defensive play and rebounding of junior Isaac Ellis.

“He played bigger than his 6-1 frame,” Christensen said.

The scoring in this game was led by Corbin Christensen with 29 points. Jenks added 15, Owen Ellis scored 13, Gage Christensen had seven, Isaac Ellis and Juan Ojeda five each and Ramirez three.

“Overall, I like the direction these young men are headed,” Christensen said. “Lots of ball left to play.”

The Knights will learn this weekend how much they have improved. They host high-flying Wahluke Friday and Connell Saturday. Connell is always a tough basketball customer for the Knights.

Wahluke, 6-2 (2-1 SCAC) has three of the league’s scoring leaders, with 6-3 Sergio Pineda scoring more than 20 points per game.