It took four overtime periods, but Hopkins is headed back to the state championship for the first time since 2011.

With the game tied at 46 and just two seconds remaining in the fourth overtime, Amir Coffey, sophomore, caught the inbounds pass and heaved the ball up from half court. The ball swished straight through the net, and upon review from the officials, Hopkins was granted the basket and the victory.

“That wasn’t even a play that we drew up. We were expecting [Shakopee] to play up, but they actually stayed back in their zone,” Coffey said. “I just went to go get the ball and put up a heave and hope to God that it would go in. I didn’t think I was going to make it, but when it went in, it was just crazy.”

Coffey’s shot required luck, but it was not without practice.

“We get to shoot those in practice,” said Kamali Chambers, senior, “[Coffey] and Treyvon are the best half-court shooters in practice. They goof around a little in practice, but I’m glad [Coffey] made that one.”

The game was a grudge match from the start. Shakopee refused to let Hopkins play at the fast pace the Royals thrive in.

The Royals were led in the first half by Jake Wright, senior guard. Wright scored 18 points in the first half on 6-11 shooting, including 3-6 from three point range. Wright’s hot shooting gave the Royals the 22-19 advantage heading into halftime.

The second half of regulation was nearly a mirror image of the first. Hopkins only managed to make six of their twenty shots, allowing the Sabers to stay in the game.

With the game tied at 41 and 2:49 remaining on the game clock, Kamali Chambers, senior, began dribbling just ahead of half court. Shakopee refused to move out of the zone that they were playing in, giving Chambers the freedom to dribble the clock out. When only 19 seconds were remaining, Hopkins called a timeout.

“I thought that they might come out of their zone. They didn’t, so we were going to hold [the ball].” Novak said.

Hopkins was unable to score on their final possession of regulation, and the first two overtime periods were incredibly similar to the end of regulation. Chambers dribbled the clock out until it was around the 20 second mark, Hopkins called timeout, and the Royals drew up a play that proved unsuccessful.

“After the second overtime, I was actually kind of surprised that they didn’t come out [of the zone]. That was a relief,” Chambers said.

Down by three with under minute left in the third overtime, John Warren, junior, knocked down a three pointer from the corner that tied the game at 46 with 42 seconds to go. Much like Hopkins, Shakopee held the ball for the remainder of the period, but were unable to get off a shot.

The fourth overtime proved to be the decisive one. Similar to overtimes one and two, Hopkins won the tip and ran out most of the clock. With six seconds left, Chambers passed the ball to Jake Wright in the corner. Wright, however, was out of bounds, and the ball went back to Shakopee.

On the following inbound play, Chambers stole an outlet pass that would have led to a wide open layup for Shakopee.

“It was kind of a funky play. Shakopee had four players up. Me just being aware: they had to send somebody deep. So I went across the ball and knew I had to take off,” Chambers said, “Once he threw it, I just had to jump, and I got the ball.”

The rest is history. Coffey put in the halfcourt bomb and Hopkins was headed to the championship. Coffey, however, gave credit to his teammates for the work they put in to set up his highlight moment.

“We stayed together as a team the whole time. We’re all heroes of the game, everybody that played. We stayed together and kept fighting until the end.” Coffey said.

The Royals will play the second seeded Lakeville-North Panthers Saturday night in the Class AAAA state championship game. North beat the Cretin Durham Hall Raiders with a buzzer beating three pointer at the end of regulation by senior forward JP Macura.

Previously, the Royals beat North 89-84 at a neutral site in the regular season.