Under first-year head coach Anxhelos Pere, the Lynnwood Royals last year struggled to find any offensive rhythm and stay competitive late in games — the end result was a disappointing 1-20 season.

Pere, back at the helm for his second season at Lynnwood, now sees his players getting positive results with the team’s offensive schemes and plays — and as a result, ready to rack up some wins this year. But Pere also sees chinks in the team’s armor that still need to be strengthened before victories can be achieved.

The Royals’ game with the Cascade Bruins on Thursday was an example of what Pere believes about this squad. With a third-quarter scoring frenzy, Lynnwood fought back from a halftime deficit and held a slight lead late in the game before finally succumbing to the Bruins 51-47 in a Wesco League non-conference matchup at Cascade High School.

Cascade is coached by 2008 Lynnwood graduate Chris Gordon, who played both basketball and football for the Royals.

Cascade is coached by 2008 Lynnwood graduate Chris Gordon, who played both basketball and football for the Royals.

Down 29-22 at the half, the Royals scored the first six points of the second half to get back into the contest. Lynnwood then wrestled the lead away from Cascade when senior Robel Berhanu scored an inside bucket with 5:17 to go in the game, giving the Royals 45-43 an advantage.

After Cascade senior Kolten Monteith subsequently tied the game at 45-45 with an easy layin, Berhanu sank a 15-footer with 4:15 to go to put the Royals back on top, 47-45.

A Gavin Wright free throw for the Bruins narrowed the Lynnwood lead to 47-46. Then with just 31 seconds remaining, senior Mason Zimmerman hit a three-pointer to push Cascade in front 49-47. The Bruins added a couple of late free throws and then held on for the four-point victory..

Although disappointed with the loss, Pere liked the way his team never gave up in the contest. Yet it was a lapse in mental toughness that sunk this squad on Thursday, Pere said.

“The biggest thing is focus, focusing all four quarters,” Pere said. “You know, there was stuff in that game right there that didn’t go our way: the refs aren’t giving us some calls, a couple of the players start bickering at each other, and now we’re losing focus. So once we keep our focus and worry about ourselves and our team, I think we’re going to get over that hump.”

“The mental stuff is a big part of it,” Pere continued. “It’s stuff we talk about every day, we work on and we’ve got to keep working on it.”

Brandon Lagutang paced the Bruins (0-0 in 4A Wesco League play, 1-1 overall) in scoring on Thursday with 13 points. Zimmerman, with his game-winning 3-pointer, ended up with 12 points for Cascade.

Lynnwood junior Hosny El-Aarag led all scorers in the game with 15 points.

Pere was hired as the Lynnwood head coach in September 2023, just a couple months prior to the 2023-2024 season. This year, with more time to work with his players prior to the start of winter practices, Pere is confident a better win-loss record can be achieved.

“We had a whole offseason and I was able to get into the gym with those guys in June and July and we were able to figure some stuff out,” Pere said. “Now we’ve got to go and we’ve got to try to get some wins.”

The next opportunity for Lynnwood (0-0 in 3A Wesco League, 0-2 overall) to earn a victory comes on Saturday, Dec. 7, when the Royals host the Mountlake Terrace Hawks; tipoff at Lynnwood High School is set for 6:30 p.m. Following the game, the varsity girls’ teams from Lynnwood and Mountlake Terrace will matchup for an 8 p.m. Wesco League contest.

Prep Boys Basketball: Lynnwood at Cascade, Dec. 5

Lynnwood 14   8 16 9 – 47

Cascade 15 14 14 8 – 51

Lynnwood individual scoring: Hosny El-Aarag 15, Robel Berhanu 9, Matteos Shiferaw 7, Jaikin Choy 4, Sylvester Clark 4, Kedus Yared 3, Miguel Manzi 3, Joshua Shuge 2, Wat Makuei

Cascade individual scoring: Brandon Lagutang 13, Mason Zimmerman 12, Gavin Wright 9, Zachary Palmer 5, Marcel Alexander 4, Ephraim Hazeley 3, Noel Kisanga 3, Andrew Mitchell III 2, Nicholas Yates

Records: Lynnwood 0-0 in 3A Wesco League, 0-2 overall; Cascade 0-0 in 4A Wesco League, 1-1 overall

Lynnwood next game: versus Mountlake Terrace; Saturday, Dec. 7; 6:30 p.m. at Lynnwood High School

Cascade next game: versus Kamiak; Saturday, Dec. 7; 7 p.m. at Cascade High School

— Story and photos by Doug Petrowski