Royal Gets Revenge to Get Even With Westlake, 74-68

Revenge is a dish best served up from the free-throw line.

At least, that was the case Wednesday night when Royal High met Westlake with the Marmonte League lead on the line.

The Highlanders, beaten by 18 points by Westlake earlier this season, delivered a piping hot plate of payback, sinking eight of 12 free throws in the final 3 minutes 7 seconds to beat the Warriors, 74-68.

Royal (13-5, 7-2) won its fourth consecutive game to move into a tie with Westlake (14-3, 7-2) and Agoura for the Marmonte lead.

Royal, which blew a 12-point second-quarter lead the last time the teams met, wasted an 11-point advantage this time before recovering in the final minutes.

“Last game, when they made a run at us, we rolled over,” Royal Coach Larry Wiksell said. “But I think my kids have matured and grown up a lot since then.”

The Highlanders made 58% of their shots while surging to a 32-28 halftime lead. They twice built leads of 11 points in the third quarter while sinking 10 of 16 shots (63%), but settled for a 53-46 advantage after three quarters.

Midway through the final quarter, Westlake’s full-court pressure began to pay dividends, forcing several turnovers. The Warriors, behind the shooting of reserve forward Matt Smiley--who had nine of his 17 points in the fourth quarter--took a 65-64 lead on Jake Stewart’s jump shot with under three minutes remaining.

Royal tied the score on a free throw by Eric Carlsen, who had 14 points and seven rebounds, then took the lead for for good, 67-65, on a 12-foot bank shot by Scott Hambly with 2:07 left.

Hambly, who had 18 points, five assists and four steals for the Highlanders, also sank four free throws without a miss in the final 1:23.

Royal, which made 55% of its shots in the game, held Westlake to 46%. Marques Pena, who attended Westlake for two years, shadowed high-scoring Warrior guard Steve Aylsworth the entire game, limiting him to 12 points on four-of-12 shooting, while scoring 12 points himself.

Donnie Wright had 14 points and seven rebounds for Royal and teammate Ryan Nielsen added 10 points and eight rebounds. Westlake got 18 points on nine-of-10 shooting by forward Billy Miller.

“I don’t think a lot of people gave us the respect (we deserve),” Wiksell said. “We don’t get a lot of press. I still consider us a sleeper, but I think we’re playing as well as we can play right now.”