Hoops preview: Visiting the Hawks

The Hopkins Royals boys basketball team will face off against the Robbinsdale Cooper Hawks tonight, at Cooper High School, at 7pm. The Hawks are 4-2 throughout the season, where as the Royals are 9-2.

In the Royals’ last game, Friday, Jan. 9, they beat the Pumas from Cristo Rey Jesuit by a final score of 87-40. Ishmael El-Amin, senior, led the Royals with 19 points and Simon Wright, senior, added 16 points. Pumas star, Jericho Sims, senior, also played well as he netted 21 points against the Royals intense defense.

The Royals know that they have tougher competitions coming up and Cooper will be the first of those competitions.

“Cooper is a good team that has a lot of returning players from last year,” Wright said. “We’ve got a big couple weeks coming up with Wayzata, Maple Grove, and Champlin, so we hope to get things started off on the right track tonight.”

The Royals will look to rely on El-Amin and Wright, who are averaging 22.9 and 15.2 points per game respectively. Another key player for the Royals this year has been Zeke Nnaji, sophomore, who is averaging 9 ppg.

For the Hawks, they will rely on Beijan Newburn, junior, who is averaging 19.8 ppg, along with Jalen Justice, sophomore, who is averaging 12.8 ppg.

After tonight’s contest, the Royals will be back in action Friday, Jan. 13, when they play in a Lake Conference matchup at Wayzata.