Basketball Recap: Royal Takes a Loss

It's hard to turn regular season success into postseason wins, a fact Royal can now relate to. They were beaten by the Cabrillo Jaguars 65-38 on Wednesday. While losing is never fun, the Highlanders can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' California basketball rankings (they are ranked 463rd, while the Jaguars are ranked 224th).

Ace Arnold

Steals

02/12/25 @ Cabrillo	2
02/03/25 @ Simi Valley	3
01/31/25 @ Moorpark	5

Several Highlanders players turned in solid performances despite ultimately coming up short. Perhaps the best among those players was Ace Arnold, who posted 13 points. Arnold is also on a roll when it comes to steals, as he's now grabbed two or more in each of the last three games he's played. Another player making a difference was Lucas Markand, who scored 11 points.

Mason Johnson continued his habit of posting crazy stat lines for Cabrillo, dropping a double-double with 21 points and 12 rebounds. Johnson has become a key player for Cabrillo: the team is 13-5 when he posts at least ten boards, but 5-6 otherwise. Lincoln Dean was another key player, to rack up 15 points.

Royal now has a losing record of 14-15. As for Cabrillo, they have been performing well recently as they've won four of their last five matches. That's provided a nice bump to their 18-11 record this season.

Royal does not have any more games scheduled as of now. As for Cabrillo, they wasted no time getting back out on the court and have already played their next contest, a 52-46 win against Valencia on the 14th.