The boys basketball team played twice this past long weekend, notching their seventh and eighth straight victories with wins over third-ranked Eden Prairie and Holy Family.

On Friday, Jan. 16, in a game that I thought would give the Royals the hardest test of the season so far, John Warren, senior and Xavier Johnson, junior, who scored 21 points each, stepped up and completely outplayed a very good EP team.

The Royals came out of the gate knocking down shots and defending anything that came at them. The Lindbergh crowd that hadn’t seen a home game since Dec. 11 was electric. The Royals were cruising to victory with a 40-25 halftime lead.

Earlier in the season, Coach Ken Novak Jr. spoke about this team’s unique ability to get a solid lead and then proceed to let the other team back in the game. This happened yet again on the 16th, and EP started making their way back in the second half.

The Royals’ defense started to falter, and the shots that came in the first half weren’t there. Although the Royals never lost the lead, the Eagles got within one point with around four minutes to go. The Royals then went on a run that I thought would kill any chance of an Eagles comeback. However, EP made some shots to narrow the Royals’ lead to five with 50 seconds remaining.

A foul by EP and the resulting free throws would ice it for the Royals as the final seconds ticked off. The 75-67 win put the Royals in sole possession of the Lake Conference lead with a record of 3-0.

“I wasn’t surprised [with our performance]. I know how well we can play and what we’re capable of, and we played at a very high level against Eden Prairie,” Warren said. “We had to make a statement.”

In a MLK-night game at Washburn High School, the Royals played Holy Family. Although the final score was larger than the EP game, this win didn’t come as easily. I wasn’t in attendance, but Ryan James, a Minn. high school basketball writer, described the Royals’ attitude as “disinterested.” Disinterested? A team that has been playing with the odds against them without Amir Coffey is “disinterested?”

When I saw that tweet and the single-digit lead next to it, I immediately looked up Holy Family’s record. To my displeasure, I found a 6-9 record in a mediocre conference. The Royals don’t have room to be disinterested. They need to make a statement and blow these types of teams out.

The Royals couldn’t stop Northern Iowa commit Justin Dahl, senior as he put up 22 points. However, when Dahl got in foul trouble late in the game, the Fire lost their burn. The Royals finally woke up and finished strong in a 82-68 victory.

On Friday, Jan. 23, the Royals will look for their ninth straight win as they face the second-place Lake Conference team, Minnetonka, on the road.