Royals grind out tough road win

Prologue
A high-quality matchup as #2AAAA Hopkins visits #3AAAA Osseo in a non-conference showdown.  I miss out on the sausage pizza but a couple slices of cheese does the waistline well with the usual 20 oz of Red Gatorade.  While the media pinheads were out in full force, what a dismal showing by both sides of fans.  Though I will give the Osseo students a little credit for the "Brother's Shadow" chants at Kamali Chambers.  John Lithgow working the game and gets his share of bad calls in and boos from the crowd.  Ian Theisen still out for Osseo.  No Stephon Sharp for Hopkins.

Song of the Day
Soldier of Love - Sade

Total Beverage Consumption Counter: 1192 ounces  (103 games, 82 days)

• 12 oz 7 Up 
• 20 oz Barq's Root Beer
• 20 oz Mug Root Beer 
• 68 oz Sprite 
• 84 oz Dr Pepper
• 140 oz Red Powerade
• 180 oz Red Gatorade
• 184 oz Coke 
• 484 oz Pepsi

Game Time
John Warren with a pair of blocks on Wheeler Baker plus he knocks down 3 bombs of his own.  17-15 Hopkins at the 10:35 mark.  Baker with 9 of his own at that point via a 3 and a pair of drives.  Hopkins pulls out their 2-3 zone again and Osseo promptly grabs a couple of offensive rebounds against it.  Baker with 5 in a row as Osseo opens a 26-23 lead inside of 6 minutes left in the half.  But he won't score again in the half.  Jake Wright drives for 2 and knocks down a transition 3 to put Hopkins back on top.  Amir Coffey buries a 3 for the last points of the half.  35-34 Hopkins at the break.

Jordan Dembley out of the post against Chambers to Giovanni Pastrano for a layup, then a Dembley putback.  Then Baker to Connor Kittleson for another bunny.  45-42 Osseo with 13 minutes left.  Amir Coffey drives for a 3 point play and converts a turnover for 2 more to put Hopkins back on top.  Noble Fahnbulleh giving Hopkins good minutes out of the post.  He takes a turnover for 2 free throws and a Chambers 3 point play concludes a 12-4 Hopkins run.  54-49 Hopkins as Osseo takes time with 9:03 left.

Baker in the post for 2 and a 3 point play and the lead is down to 3.  Then a pair of short jumpers from Baker cuts the lead to 61-60 with 6:15 left.  Hopkins takes timeout with 5:57 left and responds with a 7-0 run.  Jake Wright just had a tough 2 and off the dribble handoff banks home a straight away 3. Warren puts back a miss and Fahnbulleh scores and is fouled.  68-60 Hopkins with 4:49 left.  Baker scores to cut the lead to 4 with 3:33 left.  Hopkins able to kill some time after they grab the offensive board of a missed free throw with 2:29 left.  Baker counters a pair of free throws from Chambers to cut the Hopkins lead to 71-68 with 1:16 left.  Hopkins holds and Chambers gets whacked in the lane, no call.  Osseo comes back the other way and gives it back before getting set.  Osseo has to foul and its Dembley fouling out with 40.5 left.  Coffey misses both and Osseo still has life.  They take time to setup a play with 27.1 seconds left.  Hopkins goes strong after Baker and Osseo turns it over.  Edwards takes that for a dagger bucket.  Osseo turns it over again for the final Hopkins point.  Baker banks in a long 3 at the buzzer for the final margin.  Hopkins wins 74-71.

Post Game
Osseo has now dropped 3 straight games after winning 11 in a row.   Wheeler Baker doesn't shoot it great (14-31 give or take on my sheet) but still ends up with 36 points, 20 of those in the 2nd half.  He also added a handful of rebounds.  Jordan Dembley chips in with 16 points.  3 plays in the last 2:30 where Osseo turns it over or doesn't get a rebound.  Osseo almost certainly locked into the 2 seed now in 5AAAA.  They'll likely get Wayzata in the 1st round before a possible rivalry matchup with Maple Grove in the semis.  I thought Osseo would go to even more of Dembley vs Chambers in the post to take advantage of the size.

Hopkins continues to roll with their 16th straight win.  They're now 21-1.  They host Minnetonka in a big rivalry game on Friday night.  5 of the 6 members of the rotation reach double figures.  Amir Coffey and John Warren with 17 each.  Jake Wright with 15, Kamali Chambers 11.  Noble Fahnbulleh with 12 off the bench in quality minutes playing the middle in place of Stephon Sharp. Not as much of the 2-3 zone tonight but it was shown.  It'll be interesting to see how much we see of it the rest of the season.  The defense still isn't the Hopkins defense we're used to seeing on a yearly basis.