Hopkins goes triple figures on Cooper

Mike Broghammer

Welcome to the mass of humanity that is the Hopkins/Cooper showdown. Cooper side very full and we haven't even begun JV yet. Why? The Sophomore game went double OT with Hopkins winning 91-90 after Cooper game from 11 down with 3 minutes left in regulation and hit 2 triples in the last 20 seconds to send the game to OT. Terrell Clay (hope I've got that name right) with 39 for Cooper in the loss. Star 8th grader Riley Dearing (or Carpenter depending on what you believe) missed a chance to win it at the end of the 1st OT. Not only do we get the standard big players (John Millea, Ray Richardson of the Pioneer Press in a rare appearance), but we even get the one and only Sid Hartman. But forget press row and those stars, as always I'm right in the middle of the crowd at the front of a bunch of students and sitting behind Robbinsdale mayor Mike Holtz.

Trent Lockett gets the assignment on Rodney as we start. 10-2 Hopkins out to the lead in the 1st 5 minutes. Royce White starts it with a dunk and then finds Mike Broghammer for a dunk to end the run. Great sequence too where Rodney Williams Jr got a block for a Cooper runout that Broghammer ran down and rejected in even better fashion on the other end. Quincy Bethea with a pair of bombs for Cooper. 15-13 Hopkins at 10:35. Kenquane Brown showing he can take Broghammer off the bounce but he's gone to the bench with 2 fouls. Broghammer and Raymond Cowles then go the bench with 2 fouls each. 20-18 Hopkins at 8:39. White with a lob dunk off an inbounds play, a steal that gives him a free throw and an offensive rebound and 2 over Rodney. That rebound was right after Rodney almost posterized Moses Sundufu on the post with a monster 2 handed slam. Sundufu fortunately put him on the line and didn't give up the dunk. After Brown drives and scores and Freddie Burton hits a pullup J, Royce gets another offensive board for a free throw and then another dunk. 30-24 Hopkins with 6:05 left in the half. Rodney picks up #2 trying to get an offensive board at 5:48 at sits for the moment. Marcus Williams then gets his 2nd at 5:02 and he sits (3 Hopkins starters down with 2 fouls at this point). Hopkins 32-30 at that point. Brown then has a 3 go in and out for the best chance of the night to get the lead for Cooper. Royce with 2 more buckets and 2 DJ Peterson FTs make it 38-33 at 2:33 and Rodney comes back in. He goes by Royce for 2 and then Royce counters on the other by going thru him for 2 more. In the last 20 seconds, Moses Sundufu with a triple and then Joe Coleman with a block and a bucket for 5 Hopkins points that give them a 49-40 halftime lead. Royce 7-11 shooting for 16 points with 7 rebounds on my sheet. Quincy Bethea with 7 and Joe Bright with 11 and 5 for Cooper. With all of Hopkins' foul issues, Cooper didn't take advantage of a great opportunity.

Rodney with a lob dunk and Bright puts back a Rodney brick to pull Cooper within 5 2 minutes into the half. Royce then scores and Cowles nails a 3 against a 2-3 zone. Lockett with a layin and just as quick as Cooper was close, the lead is back to 12, 56-44. Rodney with a double clutch 15 footer against Lockett cuts it to 8 with 13:05 left. Lockett with a 3 point play and Rodney counters with a long triple. 59-51 Hopkins outside of 12 minutes left. Hopkins then goes on a 10-2 with 6 Broghammer points and 2 buckets from Lockett. 69-53 with 10:45 left, timeout Cooper and this one is basically over. Rodney comes out of the timeout with a dunk from Bright but Lockett immediately gets a dunk of his own on the other end and the crowd can't get into it. Cooper gets as close as 13 but Cowles nails a 3 with 6:30 remaining that pops the balloon of hope. The crowd starts to file out. Hopkins tacks on an unnecessary layup from Marvin Singleton with 10 seconds left for a 100-78 win.

For Cooper, Rodney Williams with 19 points on my sheet (the scorebook may have him for 21 via 2 I gave to Bethea), 7 rebounds and 2 blocks. He shot around 50% but that's deceptive considering 3 dunks. Besides the dunks he took 1 maybe 2 good shots out of about 10. Very poor shot selection as he tried to do too much. Joe Bright was a beast for them with 17 and 11. Surprising that Cooper showed success with Bright or Brown taking Broghammer off the dribble but never really attacked that weakness. Interesting too that Freddie Burton spent a ton of time in this game off the ball with Bethea handling. Probably to avoid the pressure of Marcus Williams. Despite the loss, it will be criminal if the pollsters drop Cooper down in the polls for this loss. The only exception I might be willing to listen to is if Osseo moves up to #3 and Cooper falls to #4.

For Hopkins, Royce White very quiet in the 2nd half, but he showed up big in the 1st half. Overall I had him for 20 points on solid shooting 9-14. But he's their guy you want to put on the line as he was 2-6 tonight and has struggled there all year. Trent Lockett with a big 2nd half to finish with 23 points and 7 rebounds. Mike Broghammer with 12 points, half during the run that sealed the game, along with 8 rebounds and a pair of blocks by my counts. I was surprised that Cooper didn't try to apply any pressure, especially when Marcus Williams left the game and DJ Peterson was running the point. In-state, they've proven themselves. Will a win in New York City next Friday be a major national poll eye opener?

Mike Broghammer picture courtesy of MNPhotoNet.net