MOUNT OLIVE, N.C. – Defeating the Mount Olive Trojans (10-7, 5-4 Conference Carolinas)  70-41 Wednesday night in Kornegay Arena, the Queens Royals (13-4, 9-0) won their 12th consecutive game and remain undefeated in the conference. The win streak is the program's longest since the 2002-03 team also notched 12 in a row.

“That's a great accomplishment for this team to go through the first round of the league schedule undefeated,” said assistant coach Scott Taylor. “Now our goal is to do that again – one at a time. And we know that we'll have a target on us every night.”

Coming into the game just 93 points shy of becoming Queens' all-time leading scorer, Reggie Hopkins (Gastonia, N.C., Ashbrook) scored a game-high 24 points with six rebounds and six assists and now trails Carlos Andrade by 17 points for second all-time.

Hopkins led all scorers with 10 first-half points, but it was Queens' defense that had people talking, as they held the Trojans to 22 first-half points. Holding the Trojans to 22.6 percent on seven-of-31 shooting, the Royals took a commanding 39-22 lead into halftime.

“It's important to come out on the road and set the tone early with a strong defensive effort and this team did that again tonight,” said Taylor.

The Royals' 12th-ranked DII field goal-percentage defense  (38.3) maintained their intensity in the second half, holding the Trojans to 27.6 percent on eight-of-29 shooting for a season-low 19 points in a half.

“Holding any team to 25 percent from the field is impressive, but especially teams like Mount Olive that are so skilled on the offensive end of the floor.”

 In contrast, the Royals converted 26 of their 47 attempts to shoot 55.3 percent for the game, including seven-of-14 from deep.

“Our guards did a really good job of keeping us organized and in offense in the 2nd half, allowing us to possess the ball. Sean Eads and Reggie Hopkins got the ball to the open guy.”

Scoring 30 points in the paint, the Royals were equally as dangerous from deep, hitting seven-of-14 from deep. Big man Sam Johnson (Leicester, N.C., Asheville Christian) played a large part in securing points in the paint for the Royals, going five-of-six from the field for 10 points and seven rebounds.

“It was nice to see a number of guys have a big impact on the glass tonight,” said Taylor. “Sam Johnson and Brent Evans grabbed everything around them and held down the paint for us in their minutes tonight.”

The Royals return to action to action Saturday at 7:30 pm in the Oven, when they play on the backend of a doubleheader against Coker College (5-10, 3-5).