But nothing was certain in those 13 minutes. After Northridge forward Howard Hansen hit his third 3-pointer of the contest, Jesse Jones got Roy a backcourt steal and kickout to KK Kennedy wide open on the left wing. But Jett Williams recovered with a monumental closeout and got a finger on the 3-point attempt to get the Knights a stop.

Jack Hodson’s free throw on the other end tied the game 51-51 with 2:51 left and capped a slow, chip-away, 11-5 Northridge run over 7:20 of game clock.

But out of a timeout, the Royals went to senior bucket-getter Boston Greenhalgh for an answer. Attacking from the top of the key, Greenhalgh cradled a drive and scooped in a lefty spinner off the glass to keep Roy in the lead.

The rest was a blur for Northridge. Two failed attempts at a full-court press and Roy had seven points in less than a minute: Jones caught a throw-ahead pass on the wing and gave to a slashing Rock Speredon for a crowd-igniting dunk and, 17 seconds later, Jakob Hamblin scored an and-one at the rim.

The Knights tried the free-throw game from there but the Royals put away a 65-55 victory to stay in second place in Region 5.

“We’ve got to learn to grind, learn to win close games,” Roy coach Ryan Hannah said. “It takes one defensive stop at a time, and one good offensive possession at a time.”

Greenhalgh led Roy (14-5, 6-2 Region 5) with 20 points, keying his team’s 15-of-20 free-throw effort by going 8 of 9 at the stripe and adding four assists. Jones had 14 points and four rebounds. Kennedy scored 10 points off the bench and Hamblin pitched in nine points and eight rebounds.

Senior guard Daniel Sunkuli led Northridge (9-10, 2-6) with 16 points, adding three 3s to Hansen’s triples; Hansen scored 15 points. Theo Roach and Jace Whitear each added 10 points. Williams, a guard, led his team with seven rebounds.

The Knights’ eight 3-pointers were double what the Royals made from deep, and Sunkuli and Hansen each hit just out of halftime for a 10-2 run to liven up what was a 29-26, first-half rock fight featuring heavy zone defenses. That put Northridge up 34-31 with 5:40 left in the third quarter.

But a lot of the game hinged on the other 18 attempts Northridge took from behind the arc. The Knights generated plenty of good looks in the second half but had several misses hit the rim two, three or even four times before falling out.

“We got the shots we wanted, at the end of the day,” Northridge coach Cameron Wood said. “You’ve just got to knock down shots, and today we just didn’t do it. So, we’ve got to execute, trust each other more and be able to hit it when it matters.”

As quickly as Northridge had momentum out of halftime, Roy grabbed it back thanks, in part, to the only sophomore who sees the varsity floor.

Roy only had four 3s but Anthony Parker made two of them in a flash, bookending two from the right wing around a Greenhalgh steal and layup to pour a 10-0 run on the visitors in just two minutes, giving the Royals a 41-34 lead with 3:03 left in the third.

“I feel like it’s a lot easier to play with all the seniors,” Parker said. “I’ve just got to stay patient and know that my time will come. And luckily I hit those two shots and came in clutch.”

That run set up the final stretches that saw Roy get off the mat, scoring 14 points in the final 2:51 after netting just five points in the previous seven minutes. Greenhalgh, who gets all the attention from opponents, shot just 6 of 18 but, for him and the Royals, the message remains the same.

“Continue to play tough defense and things are going to happen,” Hannah said. “We can thrive off that energy you get from the defensive end.”

Roy next travels to struggling Bonneville (2-16, 0-7) on Friday while Northridge heads west to take on first-place West Field (12-6, 7-1).