Royal Hardly Misses a Beat

The Royal High basketball team is adjusting well to life without Ryan Nielsen as the Highlanders surprised Cleveland 50-41 on Friday night in the quarterfinals of the Hart tournament.

Nielsen, the team’s leading scorer last season, has missed the first two games of the Hart tournament because of the flu. Royal will meet Hart at 8 tonight in a semifinal game.

“I’m surprised any time we play well without Ryan because we play so well with him in there,” coach Larry Wiksell said. “It was tough early on, but we’re starting to get used to it.”

The Highlanders (7-5) spotted Cleveland (9-3) a 23-17 halftime lead before using an 11-0 run at the start of the third quarter to pull ahead.

Ryan Denihan finished with 15 points and Nick Flanagan had 10 for Royal. Donald Holt had 14 points for Cleveland.

In other tournament games:

Hart 38, West Bakersfield 32--The Indians (9-3) trailed 15-14 at the half but a 10-2 run put them into the semifinals against Royal.

West Bakersfield (3-7) closed the gap to 33-32 on a layup by Reggie Roberson with 34 seconds remaining, but Hart hit five free throws down the stretch to seal the victory.

Mark Halverson had 10 points and nine rebounds and Cory Johnson 10 points and seven rebounds f

Simi Valley 76, San Fernando 60--Center Rafael Berumen had 28 points and 11 rebounds and point guard Ronnie Noel had 12 points and 13 assists for the Pioneers (9-0) in the quarterfinals.

Simi Valley plays Murphy at 6:30 tonight in a semifinal game.

Freshman forward Branduinn Fullove scored 19 points and Kurt Mjoen had eight points and nine rebounds for the Pioneers. Luis De La Rosa led San Fernando (5-5) with 30 points, including eight three-point baskets.

Murphy 63, Sylmar 50--David Murphy scored 26 points for the Nobles a in a quarterfinal game.

The game was tied, 27-27, at the half but Murphy (6-5) outscored the Sylmar (5-6) 36-23 in the second half. The Spartans were led by Branden Jacobs and Daron Wilson with 11 points each.

Hollywood 45, Verdugo Hills 43--Vache Hacapian had nine points for the Dons (1-11) in a consolation quarterfinal game.