TOPPENISH — No one ever said it would be easy to take down the top dog.

As the Royal boys found out in Friday’s SCAC district championship game against No. 1-ranked and undefeated Zillah, the Leopards just keep coming.

Trailing by four points late in the fourth quarter, Zillah’s stars turned it on when it mattered most, converting two three-point plays before delivering the knockout punch with 3.3 seconds remaining.

With time winding down, senior team leader Dekker Van De Graaf took the ball from midcourt and drove into the lane, finding Budda Aranda under the hoop and giving the Leopards a hard-fought 64-62 victory at Toppenish High School.

“We started going downhill late in the game, getting some foul calls and some and-ones, and that’s where our energy came from,” said Van De Graaf, who finished with a game-high 21 points. “Royal played really well tonight, and hats off to them. But we did a good job of keeping our composure and finishing them off.”

The boys victory followed a 56-46 victory for the Leopards girls, who also are No. 1 and beat Royal in the final.

Aranda finished with 15 points and X Castilleja put up 13 to help Zillah improve to 23-0 on the season. SCAC Player of the Year Grant Wardenaar led the Knights with 18, Graham Palmer scored 17 and Dax Jenks added 13. Royal, ranked No. 3 in Class 1A, enters state tournament play at 21-3, with all three losses to Zillah.

WATCH ZILLAH'S GAME-WINNING PLAY

“They are a really well-rounded team and I could see them getting past LC (Lynden Christian),” Van De Graaf said. “But we probably won’t see them again unless we both make it to the ‘ship.”

Aranda feels like the Leopards are where they want to be heading into next weekend’s regional round, where they will likely host an out-of-area team at Davis High School before returning to the Yakima Valley SunDome — a venue the 2024 champs know all too well.

“We’re just gonna keep working,” said Aranda, a junior transfer from Wapato who has given his new team a tremendous lift this season. “Our goal is to keep getting better every day and not look past anyone. This was a big win, but we need to have a short-term memory.”

If you only saw the first half of the girls game, you may have thought top-seeded Zillah defeated No. 2 seed Royal in a walk.

The Leopards took a commanding 18-point lead into the halftime and appeared destined to cruise. But the Knights weren’t going down without a fight, narrowing the deficit to just three points twice with four minutes left in the game.

The Leopards eventually pulled away for a 56-46 win, but they knew things could have gone the other way.

“Royal has been our toughest league opponent all year, and we knew they were going to come out of halftime and punch us in the mouth,” Zillah coach Joel Yellow Owl said. “They are a top-five team in the state, and they have a couple dynamic players that can be tough to strategize against. They didn’t back down, and I think we learned a lot from that.”

After narrowing the deficit to 14 entering the fourth quarter, junior Graycie Kast scored seven straight points before freshman Lauren Wardenaar nailed a 3-pointer with 4:35 remaining to cut Zillah’s lead to 45-42.

The Leopards responded with a two-point bucket, but Maggie Frank found Taylor Webb under the hoop to keep the game within reach for the Knights at 47-44. Zillah regained the advantage with 2:54 remaining on a three-point play by SCAC Player of the Year Makenna Klitzke to make it 51-44. 

The Leopards turned up the defensive pressure and made some free throws, and that was that.

“This was a good test for us heading into state,” said sophomore Bella Valadez, who led the Leopards with 20 points. “It’s hard to beat a good team like that three times, but we fought really hard and pulled it off. We were freaking out a little when they made that comeback, but we were able to stick together like we have all season.”

Klitzke added 14 points, while June Fiander and Addison Johnston each scored eight to help Zillah improve to 22-2 on the season. For the No. 6-ranked Knights, Kast finished with a team high 15, and Frank and Wardenaar each added 11.

Yellow Owl knows his team can still make some improvements before state, although he is feeling confident about their chances.

“We’re not even playing our best basketball right now, but I feel like we’re close,” he said. “I like where we’re at. The girls are coming together and they’re starting to see themselves as one. That’s what you want to see this time of year.”