Hopkins will play for state

FIRST HALF

Royce White gets the first basket. He caught on the block, shook the defense with a quick right shoulder fake then spun fast the opposite direction finger-rolling the ball in…Wow did Nate Wolters just shake Marcus Williams. Williams might just be the best on-ball defender in Minnesota and Nate sent Williams to the deck with a crossover. Interesting as Tim Miles of Colorado State and James Ware of Santa Clara are here watching both of them close…Williams was quickly brought out in favor of D.J. Peterson but then brought back in after a minute. I think he may have fell to an injury on the play…Wolters just dropped a pass between the legs of Mike Broghammer that went inside for a lay-in attempt…Trent Lockett now defending Wolters as Tech has brought out all five guys spreading the floor and taking their time…White scores driving hard off the baseline and finishing with a finger roll…Tech has an awesome crowd tonight, Hopkins crowd is border line bad considering this is state and the size of the school, maybe its spring break…

Wolters spreads the floor and goes by Williams for the second time with a crossover and score. Marcus just looked at his teammates wondering where his help was…Tech's Adam Johnson biffs a bunny and that can't happen. It's quickly sent the other way for a Royce White jam and that's a four-point swing….Hopkins keeps sending a new guy at Wolters. We've seen Moses Sundufu and Raymond Cowels on Nate as well already…White picks up foul number two crushing into Adam Johnson with a shoulder down. Royce likely has to sit for awhile now and that was a solid take from Johnson…11-9 Hopkins …The officials are giving Tech a fair share of the calls so far…Wolters picks off a pass, breaks down a defender, then gets hit going to the hoop, hangs in the air, and finishes and should have had a chance for a three point play. Tech has received all the calls so not much of a gripe there, 13-13…White catches baseline, jumpstops between defenders perfectly, and lays in another score at the rim…Tech has game planned this very well, they just have missed to many shots but Hopkins has too….Mike Broghammer is having a devil of a time finishing anything so far…16-15 at the half with Hopkins ahead…Tech made seven of 21 shot attempts, Hopkins seven of 16…

SECOND HALF

White with a jumphook and he's into double figures as Hopkins is up five….Just when it looks like Tech is going to start to struggle down five points, Wolters finds Alex Hanks for a backdoor lay-in and then Wolters picks off a Cowels pass and goes the other way for a dunk, 20-19 Hopkins…Wolters looks like he hurt his ankle and how lame is that if it really affects this game. How unlucky, but Nate really looks like he's going to fight it…Royce just spun off Hanks in the post and two hand jammed, 22-19 Hopkins…Tech has had several lanes open up with backdoors Broghammer is swatting shot after shot…Royce stripped the ball from Tyson Euerle and sent a pass ahead to Lockett for a score and its 26-19…Tech is starting to have a sense of urgency and they are forcing things which has resulted in some turnovers. Plus you have Wolters looking hobbled some with the ankle problem and on him the best on-ball defensive guard in the state…Wolters has missed everything on his last two shots as his angles to the basket are becoming less and less with Hopkins off-ball defenders helping to the middle so much more…29-19…Now Hopkins has started to receive the benefit of a few calls including a very iffy carry on Wolters…

It's funny to me that Hopkins fans are faintly chanting "why so quiet" as their chant can barely be heard as the student support is so minimal…Nate has struggled with his free throw shooting at the state tournament…Broghammer just bounced a Tech shot off the backboard then sent the ball down the other way to Lockett for a jam. Wolters then turned the ball over to Marcus Williams who gave it up to Royce for a score and this one looks done at 35-20. Not sure how much Wolters is hurting but ever since he looked gimpy with the ankle Hopkins has went on a 15-1 run…Hanks just knocked the ball from Royce and as it was going out of bounds he went 486 miles per hour after it into chairs and everything else. He caught the ball in the air, called time-out, and received the call from the officials. Fun to watch that hustle…

Wolters has put forth an incredible effort but right now he looks very tired and the ankle seems to have slowed him down a little big. Great effort from him and Tech tonight but Hopkins did what they do to people, their talent wore the Tigers down in the second half like they have done to so many others…50-29 with four minutes left…Credit Marcus Williams for doing a good job of getting his offense settled in in the halfcourt sets…Wolters and Hanks have 28 of the 32 Tech points…Broghammer has settled down after a rough start from the field to begin with. Now he's finishing around the hoop and making field goals…Cowels is scoreless but he did have a big defensive effort….55-36 Hopkins wins…

Royce hit seven of ten looks scoring 14 points with six rebounds, and three blocks. Broghammer made five of eight shots scoring 14 points with six boards and seven blocks and Lockett made six of eight shots scoring 13 points. As a team Tech shot 32.6 percent from the field including one of 12 from beyond the arc. Wolters sunk six of 12 shots from 17 points with five assists, three boards, and two steals. Hanks finished with 13 points.

Click here to load a slide show of the game. press the F11 key on your PC for a better view. Press F11 again when finished to return your menus.

Click here for post-game audio with Ken Lien and Michael J. Much

Thanks to Jessie Johnson for cover and slide show images.