Royals open their season flat
By Davie Wong, Sports Editor
It was not the home opener the Royals wanted. Both teams struggled right out of the gates against the Capilano Blues, and the team’s discomfort was their undoing.
Let’s start with women, as they played first. The team had a fantastic start, hammering out 12 points while limiting the Blues to 5. But the second is where things really fell apart. The Royals were roasted for 18 points in the second, and 22 in the third as their defence just simply collapsed. They surrendered 21 points in the fourth quarter as the Blues just drove the game away from them.
Overall, there was tons that the team just didn’t do. However, to nitpick, statistically, they were poor shooters. The team shot under 50 from the court, and under 60 from the line. When you miss that many shots, you’re probably going to lose. The team was also awful at keeping the ball, giving up a total of 33 turnovers, 13 of which were opposition steals.
If there was a bright side to look upon, it would be Rachel Beauchamp’s performance. Number 23 knocked down 15 points for her team and 13 rebounds on her way to a double-double.
Coach Steve Beauchamp took some time to speak about his team’s performance after his first loss in the PACWEST. “We had lots on energy and played hard, which is what we expect. We just didn’t play as smart as we needed to be. It’s early in the year, as you’ll see stuff get worked out as we move along. All in all, I can’t argue with the effort we put out there.
Meanwhile, the men were dealing with their own struggles to start the season. Under new head coach Joe Enevoldson, the team looked strong coming out of the gates. Unfortunately, the Blues just looked a tad bit better throughout the game. They outscored the Royals in three out of four quarters and at times, just looked like the better team.
Defensively, they struggled to contain the Blues stars, and Greet Gill managed to put 23 over the Royals. Caden Rowland also put in 16 points as the defence couldn’t keep track of him either. Twenty turnovers and 8 given steals gave the Blues an edge they used well. And when they couldn’t steal it, they just grabbed the rebound and pounded that in. In fact, 2nd chance points accounted for 20 of the Blues’ 82 points. That’s nearly 25 per cent from poor rebounding alone
Offensively, it was a mess for the Royals. They shot from the field for 32 per cent and only grabbed a measly four points off of turnovers. Grant Campbell and Malcom Mensah did what they could for the team, scoring 20 and 17 points respectively. Lambert Pajayon finished with 14 points, but the rest of the Royals didn’t really do too much.
After the game, Enevoldson took some time to talk about his team played, or rather didn’t play, on the court: “We were lazy and effortless today. I don’t know why that was but that was the case. But we’re going learn from it.”
