by Mari Radtke
Boyden-Hull Comets came out shooting on Saturday March 1 at Sioux Center where the MMCRU Royals competed in their first sub-state contest. It was a tough first quarter for the young Royals team, taking a 17-2 first quarter drubbing. The Royals came back to life during the second quarter outscoring Boyden-Hull 11-4. Halftime still sent the Royals to the locker room with a 13-21 deficit. The third quarter scoring favored the Comets but the Royals tied the scoring in the final game period.
The MMCRU Royals fell in their effort for a trip to state, 34-53. This year’s very successful Royals team is young and is expected to make another powerful showing.
Comets’ leading scorers were junior Carter Kleinwolterink, 15; junior Garret Van Es, 13 and sophomore Jakob Pottebaum, 9. As a team they hit 46.2% of their shots.

Junior Kamden Bork put in 12 points, including a 3-pointer. Junior Brayson Mulder added 9. He was shut down from the outside. Junior Michael Schmillen put 4 points on the board. The Royals were held to a 28% shooting success rate. Their 3-point center of power game was pushed off-balance, hitting just a single 3-point attempt.
Rebound effort was again a big part of the winning team’s story. The Comets grabbed 32 to the Royals’ 23. Despite that, the Royals’ gave themselves 13 second chance boards against 8.
Van Es took 15 boards, 3 offensive and 2 blocks with a steal. Senior Braylen Crawford controlled 6 with 1 offensive board, a block and a steal. Pottebaum leaped for 5 boards, 1 offensive and a block and a steal.
Royals’ senior Michael Peterson controlled 6 boards, 4 second chance grabs. He added a block and 2 steals. Mulder grabbed 5 with 2 offensive and 2 steals. Bork gets 3 boards with 2 offensive grabs and a steal.
The Royals had a great year, ending with a 23-3 record and as far in the playoffs as ever before.