For the second time in three days, the clock reached zero and left Royals supporters with an empty feeling knowing how close a victory was.

After the Royals lost to Minnetonka on senior night by three and Eden Prairie lost to Edina on a buzzer-beating three, the Royals and Eagles met for the Lake Conference title game. The Royals were playing for the outright title and the Eagles were playing for just a share of the title.

Although EP has been ranked above the Royals all season, in their first meeting, the Royals beat the Eagles 75-67.

With a packed gym and multiple media outlets on hand, the game lived up to the hype.

From the opening tip it was all Royals, as they started off the game on a 7-0 run. Then the mistakes started piling up and the Eagles didn’t waste time in taking advantage. Before we knew it, the Royals were in a 14-point hole. A couple of free throws by Graham Hutson, senior, would send the teams to the locker room with a 38-26 EP halftime lead.

The Royals made only one shot from beyond the arc in the first 18 minutes and would need any threes they could get to even climb back into the game.

The second half started with back-and-forth basketball. The Royals cut the lead to 12, but then EP pushed it back up to 14.

The mood in the gym at Eden Prairie High School changed when Vinnie Shahid, junior hit a trey and followed it up with a layup and a foul. Shahid’s effort cut the deficit to just four with 10 minutes remaining.

For the first time in a while, EP pushed back and extended their lead to seven with eight minutes to go.

A minute and a half later, the game was tied. A stunned crowd had watched as the Royals did what at the end of the first half looked unthinkable.

A three from Ishmael-El Amin, sophomore and a Shahid free throw pushed the Royals’ lead to four (their largest since the first five minutes of the game) with just 2:19 remaining in the game.

With 43 seconds remaining and the Royals up by two, EP came out of the timeout holding the ball and not making any moves towards the basket. Though many were bewildered with the decision, the Eagles knew exactly what they wanted. Owen Chose, sophomore met that goal by hitting a three for the one-point lead with four seconds to go.

After reaching half court and calling a timeout, now with 1.6 seconds left, El-Amin’s inbound pass to Erik Davis, junior went off the glass and a three from Xavier Johnson, junior went short as the EP student section piled onto the floor.

The 69-68 loss dropped the Royals’ regular season record to 20-6 and to the second seed in the section 6AAAA tournament.

The bad news is that the Royals backed their way into sections, but the good news far outweighs the bad.

The Royals will begin section play against St. Louis Park (9-17) at home, which, sorry, but some HHS Intramural teams could beat the Orioles.

With a win over the Orioles on Wednesday, Feb. 25, the Royals would play the winner of Minnetonka vs. MPLS South. Most likely it will be Minnetonka, whom beat the Royals by three in their worst-played game of the season. If the Royals win on Feb. 28, they could meet Eden Prairie for a third time on Wednesday, March 4 to play for a state tournament berth. But folks, watch for the Edina-Armstrong winner to take down the Eagles in the section semi-finals.

It’s a new season, everyone is 0-0. Between the heartbreaker in last year’s state championship (84-82 loss to Lakeville North, still don’t want to talk about it) and losses to big rivals like Minnetonka and Eden Prairie, the Royals have all the motivation in the world to get back to the Target Center and win that state title.