Hopkins takes out Tech in the 2nd half.

Tech with a great crowd in attendance. Nice "Transfer" chant for the Hopkins intros by the Tech students. Royce scores on Hanks and the Hopkins crowd chants "This game's over" on the 1st bucket. Brilliant. Wolters crosses over Williams to the ground (totally sick) and scores. Williams really getting after Wolters. Tech coach Randy Jordan going Jerry Tarkanian with the orange towel on his should. Williams leaves and DJ Peterson enters 2:30 into the game as Williams appeared to get injured on the sick crossover on the 1st Tech possession. Tech spreads the floor with 5 high with a 5-2 lead. 5-4 Tech at the 1st TV timeout at 14:20. Tech with Wolters at the center circle and stacks on each hash mark looking for backdoors with the lead.

Williams back in and he's back on Wolters. Wolters takes him and finishes lefty. 7-4 Tech before Williams drops a triple. Interesting that Hanks has the assignment guarding Royce. After a Williams turnover, Tech misses 2 layups and white gets a dunk at 12:30 and Hopkins has a 9-7 lead. Williams again looking to pass instead of score (what I said in my "How to beat Hopkins" post) and he walks. Tech down 2 but staying with the 5 high set. Wolters with a rebound, behind the back dribble and an outlet for a Hanks layup. 9 all at 10:30. Royce on the block 1 on 1 with Hanks but then he runs over a Tech player for a charge. 11-9 Hopkins at the 9:45 TV timeout.

Marvin Singleton puts back some garbage at 9:10, 13-9 Hopkins and Tech still says high and wide. Tyson Euerle blocked and puts it back. 13-11 Hopkins. Hopkins with a couple of doubles on Wolters trying to get the ball out of his hands. Wolters with a steal and finishes against Broghammer. 13 all at 7:50. Hopkins fans try to get a "This is boring chant" going. 13 all at the 6:47 TV break. Very gutsy game plan by Tech. But you wonder if they have any chance to get a stop on defense. Wolters misses a floater over Broghammer after a long possession. Cowles now gets his shot guarding Wolters. Wolters with his 2nd kickout that results in a missed 3. White immediately scores inside on the other end. Euerle with a bad miss at 3 but Hopkins can't convert that as a lob goes off White's hands. 15-13 Hopkins at the 2:42 TV timeout.

Wolters drives and finds Hanks for a layup with 2 minutes left in the half. 15 all. White misses an iso jumper from the right elbow and Tech can take the lead. But Hopkins gets a reach out tap away. Royce with a nice kickout from the post to Marcus Williams. Broghammer collects the miss and converts 1 of 2 FTs with 24 seconds left. 16-15 Hopkins at the break in an absolutely amazing half. Tech can't get a hand-check call which would be huge. Great "Randy Jordan" chant from the Tech students as we go to the locker rooms. This is especially amazing since Hopkins hasn't played well at all. Wolters has had the ball a ton, can he keep it up in the 2nd half. Wolters 3-6 leading the way with 7 points and 3 assists for Tech (that's 13 of their 15 points). Tech 7-21 shooting though. That has to improve. Hopkins only 7-16 with 8 turnovers. Royce White 4-5 and 8 points. Tech with only 5 turnovers and they only gave up 2 offensive rebounds.

Royce with a steal and tries to dunk over a defender and gets fouled. He misses both but Broghammer grabs the miss and he'll shoot FTs. He makes both for a 3 point Hopkins lead. Royce over Hanks on the right block. 20-15 Hopkins at 16:50. Tech stays spread and Hanks goes backdoor for a layup. Wolters then with a steal and he flushes with 2 hands. 20-19 Tech and their crowd wakes up. Marcus Williams gets the initial assignment on Wolters this half. Adam Johnson rejected by Broghammer who's almost playing a 1 man zone to stop backcuts. Wolters comes down on a foot at 15:22 and hobbles toward the bench but he's staying in there noticably limping. Oh No! White with 2 more missed freebies. Tech still hanging around as they're down 20-19 at the 14:53 TV timeout. Wolters still part of all but 2 of the Tech points.

White posts Hanks and spins for a 2 handed dunk from the right block. Adam Johnson with his 3rd straight effort where he couldn't finish at the rim against Broghammer. Broghammer converts for 2. 24-19 Hopkins. Broghammer misses an easy jump hook short and Tech gets a much needed stop after an airball. Royce with a steal at halfcourt that turns into a Lockett layup and Tech needs a timeout. 26-19 Hopkins with 12:51 left. Tech stays with the spread plan out of the timeout. Nick Jordan tries to find Wolters cutting but throws it away. Lockett puts back a Royce miss at 12:10 and the lead has ballooned to 9. 8-0 Hopkins run since Wolters got injured. Wolters with a force and gets no call. Lockett converts that into a free throw on the other end. 29-19 Hopkins. Wolters with a carry and Broghammer gets a dunk from Royce on a high-low feed. Wolters still aggressive and he makes 1 of 2 FTs at 10:51 for the 1st score in 5 and a half minutes for Tech. Lockett strips but Broghammer with a great block that results in a Lockett dunk. Tech turnover for 2 more from Royce and Tech needs another timeout. 35-20 Hopkins with 9:46 left. Tech no field goals since the Wolters dunk cut the lead to 20-19 with 16:23 to play (that also means no FGs since Wolters got hurt). Hopkins on a 15-1 run over almost 7 minutes. Wolters still part of all but 2 of the Tech points.

Wolters goes thru a Hopkins player, no call and still gets the FG. Nick Jordan misses a wide open 3 and that's just typical of this night were Tech isn't converting opportunities. Lockett with a steal and a nice reverse. 40-22 Hopkins at the 7:50 mark. Hanks drives and gets fouled for 2 FTs at 7:45 and the Tigers try to come with pressure. Sundufu makes them pay with a layup. Tech now has to go to conventional offense down 18. Wolters gets the continuation call and the foul at 7:08 for a 3-point play. 42-27 Hopkins leads. More Tech pressure and Broghammer gets a layup. Hanks baseline and a nice reverse at 6:38. But that's the last real highlight as Hopkins is just too much in the 2nd half. Hopkins moves on to the state championship game with a 55-36 win.

For Tech, Wolters terrific and Hanks made a couple of nice plays, but nothing beyond that. The students do get a quick "We don't recruit" and "You're all transfers" chants in. Wolters finishes with 17 points on 6-12 shooting. Hanks 13 points on 5-11. The rest of the team was 3-19. Ouch. Hopkins shoots 16-25 in the 2nd half. Mike Broghammer and Royce White each with 14 points and 6 rebounds as the Hopkins size was too much. Key stat. Mike Broghammer's 7 blocks as kept Tech from converting inside.