Nielsen’s Royal Comeback Sets Up Cross-town Meeting

It will be an all-Simi Valley matchup in the Hart High boys’ basketball tournament final Monday night.

Royal set up a meeting against Simi Valley with a 53-35 upset over Hart in the semifinals Saturday night.

The Highlanders (8-5) were boosted by the return of 6-foot-5, 240-pound forward Ryan Nielsen. The senior, who led Royal in scoring last season but missed the first two games of the tournament because of the flu, came off the bench to score 10 points.

“I like him coming in off the bench like that,” Coach Larry Wiksell said. “He’s not a bad guy to have coming off your bench.”

As much as Nielsen provided Royal with an emotional lift, forward Nick Flanagan also raised the Highlanders to new heights.

Flanagan scored 19 points, including nine in the third quarter when Royal broke open a close game and went ahead to stay.

“He got hot right when we really needed him,” Wiksell said. “It was at a point of the game when it could have gone either way.”

Hart (9-4) tied the score, 24-24, on a jumper by J.T. Stutts early in the third quarter. Then it was Flanagan’s turn to take over, scoring his team’s next eight points to give the Highlanders a 32-27 lead.

The Indians closed to 34-30 on a three-point basket by David Neill early in the fourth quarter, but that was as close as they got.

Hart had difficulty shooting over Royal’s zone defense most of the game, and scored only 15 points in the second half.

The only Hart player to score in double figures was Cory Johnson with 11 points.