By David Pan/Lynnwood Today editor

On Senior Night, Lynnwood’s five seniors spearheaded a strong first quarter performance that had the Royals up by 9 points over Cascade.

But Lynnwood could not sustain the effort the rest of the contest as the Bruins started hitting their shots and pulled away with a 62-43 victory in a Wesco 4A South boys basketball game Tuesday at Lynnwood High School.

“We needed to get a little more intensity offensively and defensively,” said Lynnwood coach Michael Richards. “We just didn’t have it. We were flat and in the second quarter we didn’t talk on defense.”

Lynnwood led 17-8 after the first quarter but went into halftime trailing 31-29. The Royals again came out flat and were outscored 21-3 in the third quarter.

“I’m pretty sure we had more turnovers in the second half than we had points,” Richards said. “That’s a recipe for disaster. There’s no way to come back.”

Cascade certainly played a major role in the Royals’ loss.

“Cascade did a good job of coming down and slowing the game down and passing the ball and making their shots,” Richards said. “For the most part, they made their shots. They made their layups. They made their 3s. They definitely made their free throws.”

All five Lynnwood seniors – Jake Taschner, David Vo, Greyson Elwell, David Nguyen and Malik Sims – started the game and then all five were on the court late in the fourth quarter. Richards then called a timeout and all five came out together.

The five seniors were all leaders for the Royals. The five led by example, worked hard and did what Richards asked of them.

“We’ll definitely miss that leadership,” Richards said.

Elwell scored a team-high 10 points. Tyler McArthur added 8 points and Vo had 7 points. Cascade’s Brevin Brown and Isaiah Gotell each scored 13 points. Justin Gordon had 12 points.

Lynnwood (3-12 in the league, 4-12 overall) faces Mariner (1-14, 2-18) at 7:15 p.m., Thursday, Feb. 6 in its final regular season game. A win over the Marauders would give the Royals five victories, three more than last season.

“It’s a step up from last year,” Richards said. “We’re moving in the right direction. We just have to keep our commitment in the offseason to making ourselves better, especially basketball skills-wise.”

A number of younger players saw action against the Bruins (8-7, 8-12).

“The kids you saw tonight were younger players who moved up and we’re giving them an opportunity to play and get themselves better and get some varsity experience,” Richards said. “We do kind of see those guys coming in and playing at the varsity level.”