MATTAWA - The Royal Knights' express keep on shoo-shooing past its competition as of late.

On Tuesday, Royal came out of Mattawa with a convincing 61-47 win over hosts Wahluke.

"It was a good night for the Knights as we came out with a needed win," Royal head coach Pete Christensen said. "It was quite an unusual game because the officials took over the game from the very beginning.  It seemed like breathing too hard was considered a foul tonight.  There were 45 fouls called in the game and it was one of the mildest games we have played this year in terms of physicality."

Christensen noted his Knights' (5-6, 2-2) defense which never allowed the Wahluke offense to get on track, scoring no more than 14 points in any of the first three quarters and only 16 points in a fourth quarter that was a mere exercise in wrapping up the win.

"We played a very effective defense against them and controlled the game from the start," Christensen said. "Things are gelling together a little bit at a time.  We have come far from the beginning of the season but must continue to move forward if we want to compete against the other side of the league during districts."

Kent Christensen led Royal with 20 points and Reid Lefler chipped in with 14 points.

Now the Knights, who have won four of their last five games, need to cut down on turnovers, committing 33 of them in the win. 

"Turnovers are still a big concern of mine," Pete Christensen said. "Even with a comfortable win we can not afford to give the ball away that often in a game and count on coming out on top in the end against the elite teams in our division."