What Riverside Christian guard Chris Pynch couldn't do with a record-setting morning on offense, teammate Jered Cates did on defense.

Pynch scored a game-high 27 points and Cates provided a lockdown effort on Kittitas' B.J. Fletcher, who entered the game averaging 18 points per game but was held to four, in the Crusaders' 67-47 non-league victory against the Coyotes in Monday's opener at the Tourneytown.com Shootout in the SunDome.

Pynch's numbers included an 11-for-16 effort from the free-throw line. His free-throw attempts bettered the Shootout record of 14 set by Eisenhower's Jack Loofburrow last year.

"He's definitely the leader of our team; he's the ultimate team player," RC coach Bruce Siebol said. "I've been telling him to be more aggressive."

Which the junior was in his parade to the free-throw line, but not without living up to his team-first mentality with seven assists for the Crusaders (11-2).

Cates, a 6-foot-3 junior helped hold Fletcher to 1-for-14 shooting.

"I had scouted them and knew (Fletcher was a good shooter," Siebol said.

The Crusaders led all but 17 seconds of the game, taking the lead for good on a Pynch jumper that put RC ahead 8-7 with 4:03 to play in the first quarter. They pushed the lead to 14 points, 32-18, at the half and led by as many as 19 points twice in the fourth quarter.

Kittitas, which slipped to 7-4 overall and lost its Shootout debut, never got closer than 11 in the second half.

Ryan Van Beek added 14 points for RC. Peter Boothman scored eight points and pulled down a game-high nine rebounds, and Matthew Allen added eight points and eight rebounds.

Bryce Gibb led Kittitas with 20 points and eight rebounds, and Nick Mifflin added 13 points.

Both teams return to league play this weekend, but the break was a welcomed one for Siebol, who knows they could meet up with the Coyotes in district play.

"It's kind of nice to get a gauge like that," he said.