LAKE WALES, Fla. – Tonight the Royals from Warner took on the Seahawks from Keiser University in what was the last regular season home game for the Royals.
The Royals entered the game with a perfect 13-0 record at home and an overall record of 20-8, the Royals are also sitting atop the TSC playoff standings, sporting a 13-3 conference record; the Seahawks entered the game with a 14-12 overall record and are 10-6 in conference play.
After battling it out for 40 minutes the Royals came away victorious 70-66, staying perfect at home this season with a 14-0 record in the TAC.
With the win the Royals have clinched home field advantage throughout the TSC playoffs.
After the win Head Coach
Sean Hanrahan was quoted saying, "We came out here for 1 reason tonight, to cut down the nets." The Royals did just that as they celebrated their regular season championship and their perfect season at home this year.
SID Players Of The Game
#13
Darryl Mercer Jr. – 16 points, 8 assists, 2 rebounds, 1 steal
#24
Jaquez Dickerson – 10 points, 5 rebounds, 2 blocks, 1 assist
Before the game the Royals honored their 4 seniors with a special ceremony to honor their time at Warner:
In the 1
st half the Royals came out sluggish, trailing 4-0 to the Seahawks after 4 minutes of play and finally got on the board when
Samuel Schobben nailed a 3-pointer in the 5
th minute of the game.
Both teams battled hard in the 1
st half, going back and forth; there were 11 lead changes between the two teams in the half.
Warner's leading scorer was #13
Darryl Mercer Jr. who had 12 points and 3 assists, shooting 5-7 from the field in the half.
Keiser's leading scorer at halftime was #4 CJ Fisher who had 14 points to lead all scorers.
Warner took a 39-33 lead into halftime.
Keiser grabbed the momentum to start the 2
nd half, scoring 5 quick points before the Royals could score to open the half.
The Royals figured things out and began to execute their game plan on offense,
Trae Graham was dealing with foul trouble all night and was only able to play 19 minutes before fouling out with 6:50 to go in the game. Graham still managed to score 13 points and grab 6 rebounds in his short amount of time in the game.
Down the stretch the Royals defense played lights out with contributions coming from every player on the court and off the bench;
Jaquez Dickerson came off the bench for the Royals tonight, played 28 minutes, scored 10 points, grabbed 5 rebounds and had 2 blocks.
Dickerson was able to come into the game and become an immediate threat on both sides of the ball, containing Keiser's big men down low on defense for the majority of the 2
nd half.
Keiser battled hard and managed to stay in the game down to the final bell, but were unable to fully grab the momentum late in the game. With 30 seconds left the Seahawks had the ball and managed to get off 2 decent shots but neither connected and
Bart Schild grabbed the game sealing rebound with less than 10 seconds to go.
With the crowd on their side and a bend but don't break attitude the Royals were able to hold off any comeback the Seahawks had planned for tonight's game, cruising to their 21
st victory on the year.
