MOREHEAD — Rose Hill made its return to the 16th Region Tournament in dominating fashion Thursday night, knocking off Rowan County 62-37 in the first round, and Chad Jackson was the show-stopper.

The sophomore posted a triple-double with 31 points, 10 rebounds and 10 steals.

“I didn’t know I had a triple-double but that’s good,” Jackson said after the game. “That’s not what I’m worried about, I’m just glad we got the win.”

Rose Hill coach Tim Fraley was also impressed with Jackson’s numbers but thought something else stood out about the 6-foot-4 guard.

“I had no idea he shot 15-for-20 (from the field),” Fraley said. “He scored a lot of points but the one thing I thought he did really well was hit that mid-range jumper. Everybody always questions if he can do it or not. He can do it, he just doesn’t have to do it a lot.”

The Royals, playing in their first regional tournament since claiming the crown in 2003, didn’t take long to take over the game. An 11-2 run to close out the first quarter gave the Royals a 13-4 lead. They increased it to 14 points by halftime at 25-11.

The Vikings committed 24 turnovers and the Royals got 17 steals for the night.

“We did a good job with Jackson in the halfcourt defense,” Rowan County interim coach Andrew Zaheri said.” We just couldn’t handle the pressure and Jackson just ate our guards up.”

The Vikings (8-19) made a small comeback by opening the third quarter with a 7-2 run, cutting the Royals’ lead to nine. Rowan County kept it competitive throughout the rest of the quarter and trailed 38-26 going into the final quarter after Jackson buried a 3-pointer at the buzzer.

Rose Hill (20-10) broke loose on an 18-5 run to start the fourth quarter, building its largest lead of the game at 56-31. The Royals maintained that margin to close out the game.

Rose Hill’s Robbie Barber joined Jackson in double-figure scoring with 16 points on 50 percent shooting from the field.

Sophomore standout Dakotah Euton netted four points on 1-of-10 shooting.

“If you had told me before the game we would hold Euton to four points, I would’ve said we were getting ready for Elliott County,” Zaheri said. “Jackson was the other equation. He was just too much for us to handle tonight.”

Euton’s four points didn’t reflect his work on the floor, according to his teammate.

“He didn’t shoot really well today but he did a good job on defense and rebounding and held his own,” Jackson said.

Rowan County was led by Blake Pettit’s double-double. He scored 14 points and hauled down 13 rebounds.

The Royals’ defense on the 6-9 Pettit and the ability to turn Rowan County over were keys to the win, according to Fraley. “We didn’t want to get in a game where Pettit could knock and bang on us down low,” he said.

The Royals will take on Elliott County (24-3) in Saturday’s semifinal. Game time is set for 2:45 p.m.