Hopkins rolls over Lakers

Last night's Hopkins versus Prior Lake contest was not the prettiest game on Tuesday night. Hopkins jumped out to a quick double figure lead and went on to trounce the Lakers 85-48. The Royals finished with four guys in double figures led by the 17 points from Minnesota signed Joe Coleman and 16 points from Marvin Singleton who signed with UNI.

Hopkins jumped out to 9-0 and 21-9 leads before really pushing ahead 43-18 at the break. Initially the fan attention was on Joe Coleman's one handed full court jam, his alley-oop score, and a very difficult baseline jumper from 11 feet that was made from a low percentage angle. Also, Marvin Singleton's rebounding total was fun to keep track of as he had double figure boards at the half and the penetration of Siyani Chambers allowed at least four different teammates room to drain threes.

However, the crowd's gaze was turned to the students whose Christmas caroling when players were at the free throw line was definitely a new twist. The several Santa hats waving back and forth from the Prior Lake students during "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" was quality as was the group rowing exhibition complete with fish jumping performed by the Hopkins students. By the time the crowd attention span moved back to the game it was nearly over because the running time kicked into motion.

Joe Coleman led all scorers with 17 points making 7 of 9 jumpers and 3 of 4 free throws. Joe scored with two dunks, two simple lay-ins, the difficult angled jumper, an elbow jumper caught off a tight curl, and a two dribble attack from just above the elbow all the way to the rim while being fouled. Coleman also dished out a couple assists, grabbed three boards, and accumulated three early steals.

Singleton knocked down 5 of 10 shots with the most notable buckets being a jumphook deep in the lane and a couple hotly contested lay-ins that saw him absorb contact and finish. Marvin sunk 6 of 7 free throws good for 16 points to go with 13 rebounds.

Rivals top 100 point guard Siyani Chambers went with the holiday mood and was quite giving. He took just six shots making four while dealing out seven assists. Chambers scored 11 points and grabbed three boards.

Six-foot-3 sophomore Jamal Davis hit a pair of jumpers on his way to five points for Hopkins and 6-foot-3 Royal freshman sharp shooter Jacob Wright gave Minnesota Preps an example of his finely tuned jumper making a pair of threes. Six-foot-9 senior big Jacob Peterson didn't get much offensive opportunity making one of two shots but he did snare seven rebounds.

In defeat 6-foot-5 Prior Lake senior Mitch Hopkins scored 14 points and 5-foot-9 junior guard Matt Dysthe totaled 11. Freshman point guard Jon Sobaski didn't have his best game but there were highlights from the 9th grader that opened many eyes.

Sobaski hit on three long perimeter shots including a pair of threes and he had a highlight reel two handed steel that saw him pick Siyani's pass off and go the other way. On that transition drive Sobaski put a quick dribble drive move on a Hopkins defender that even had Hopkins fans making noises. The shot was missed so Ben didn't complete the play but his performance seemed to be a taste of things to come.

Prior Lake junior Jack Harrison had trouble with the Royal defense but he still managed to put up eight points including a turn around jumper out of the post from 14 feet.