ZILLAH, Wash. – Zillah senior Memphis Jones probably won’t remember too much detail of Saturday night’s showdown with Royal.

No, the 6-foot-5 forward likely will have ‘ROYAL 24’ seared into his memory.

That’s what Jones saw much of the game shadowing the Knights’ star junior Grant Wardenaar every inch of Zillah Alumni Gymnasium’s court in the top-ranked Leopards’ 80-60 victory over Class 1A’s No. 3 team.

Zillah coach Mario Mengarelli’s stop-the-lefty approach worked. Wardenaar was held scoreless in the first half on just three shot attempts, and was huffing hard after intermission when he was able to score 16 points, barely half of the per-game average he brought into the contest.

“He’s a great player, that obviously gives us our best chance, they’ll make some adjustments next time, but it worked tonight,” Mengarelli said. “When you’re that good, you’re going to get a lot of attention. We ran doubles at him, and maybe next time we’ll run triples.”

On Saturday, it was Jones and senior Julian Calzada leading the charge against the Knights junior, who quarterbacked Royal to its sixth straight football championship early last month.

“I just love it,” Jones said. “Mario assigns me a job and I’m going to get it done for him.”

With Wardenaar accounted for, the Knights’ offense couldn’t keep up with the Leopards who have been bolstered by the return of two-time SCAC Player of the Year Dekker Van De Graaf, who missed four games with an ankle injury.

Van De Graaf finished with 15 points and 13 rebounds.

“It’s only getting better, so I’m getting excited about that,” Mengarelli said of Van De Graaf, who is still a bit hobbled.

Zillah opened a 13-point lead after the first quarter, and pushed that to 18 by halftime.

“They’re the best team we’ve played so that adjustment to the speed they’re playing at, that was tough,” said Tim Ravet, who took Royal’s reins after leading Kittitas and his state-record-scoring son Brock to the three straight 2B championships, and Ellensburg’s girls to a 2A title in 2023 and two more finals appearances.

“They broke us down in the paint, they took us off the dribble, you have to give them credit,” he said.

The Knights, just like pretty much every team, didn’t have an answer for Leopards point guard X Castilleja, who pinballed his way through Royal’s defense for 15 points.

“His motor is what sets him apart; he does so much for us,” Mengarelli said. “When we’re in attack mode and he breaks somebody down, we’re really hard to guard.”

Jones added 15 points in a game that got a little chippy.

Royal’s Manny Ruvalcaba was ejected after spiking a shot by Jayden Saenz in the third quarter and then standing over the Leopards guard, picking up his second technical foul of the contest.

And Jones gave a little flex on the floor after falling following a made layup.

Zillah, 6-0 in the SCAC and 10-0 overall, head to College Place on Tuesday, while Royal (4-1, 7-1) hosts Naches Valley the same night,

Ravet, who’s had his players for just a month, is looking forward to shaping the Knights, who also got 12 points from Dax Jenks and 10 from Graham Palmer.

“We have to buy in, lock in and compete every possession,” he said. “This was a good measuring 

stick, we still have a lot of stuff to work on.”