While the Royals were cruising to a 48-point victory against St. Louis Park on Feb. 25, the fans and players at Minnetonka High School were biting their nails. Minnetonka and Minneapolis South were fighting to keep their seasons alive. Minneapolis South prevailed with a buzzer-beating three-pointer to end Tonka’s season, 105-104.

As news of the upset came in, Royals fans were ecstatic that they wouldn’t have play the same pesky Tonka team that beat the Royals on senior night by three points. Instead, the Royals would be playing a Minneapolis South team that was 11-15 in the regular season.

Royals players, on the other hand, were upset as they wanted to seek revenge on their closest rival. Their anger at being robbed of this chance was expressed in the absolute beatdown they handed to the Tigers.

To sum up the section semi-final game in one sentence I would say this. With over eight minutes left in the game, Coach Ken Novak Jr. was sitting on the bench amongst his players smiling and laughing, something rarely seen.

The game wasn’t easy at the start for the Royals, as the Tigers stormed back after being down 7-0 to take a 19-17 lead, their only lead of the game.

After the run by the Tigers, the Royals’ defense tightened up and shots started to fall. This surge sent them to the locker room with a 42-31 halftime lead.

In the final 18 minutes, the Royals kept their foot on the gas. Ishmael-El-Amin, sophomore, caught fire as he put up 26 points off the bench with Vinnie Shahid and Xavier Johnson, juniors, in foul trouble.

As the Royals approached the last four minutes with a commanding lead, the Royals subbed out all five starters. In the final seconds, Wyatt Johnson, senior, hammered down the exclamation point with a ferocious dunk.

The 105-75 win secures a date with the Eagles of Eden Prairie High School in the sections finals.

Speaking of those Eagles, they narrowly escaped Armstrong High School 64-62 in their semi-final matchup. In a familiar scene, the Eagles ran the clock all the way down to 10 seconds before trying to score a game winning basket.

This time, it was Blake Cashman, senior, who converted a layup with just over four seconds remaining. The Falcons tried to regroup and send the game into overtime, but a turnover ended the game and their season.

The Eagles and Royals split their regular-season matchups, each team winning at home. They also shared the Lake Conference title. To say the least, these two teams know each other almost as well as they know themselves.

According to Novak, the keys to the game against Eden Prairie are rebounding, neutralizing their top scorers, and moving the ball on offense. In their loss to the Eagles, the Royals were outrebounded by a large margin and gave up countless three pointers, including the game-winner with time running out.

If the Royals want to keep their state championship dream alive, they’ll have to do better on the glass and stopping the three point shot.

One thing to watch for is the status of Eagles’ guard Grantham Gillard, senior. He scored 23 points in their loss earlier this year but did not play in their win due to a violation of team rules. He has played sparingly in the section playoffs.

For the Royals, the guard play is key.

With John Warren, senior, Vinnie Shahid and Xavier Johnson, juniors, and El-Amin all playing at their best, there aren’t many teams in the state that can stop these Royals.

Because the Eagles and Royals are both ranked within the top 10 in the state, this game is a de-facto state tournament game. The loser’s season will end and the winner will go on to play in the real state tournament, hoping to cut down the nets on March 14.