Royal Boys hoops season update
With a 10-2 record a little more than a month into the season, the Royals look to go on a surge as they face some tough opponents in the upcoming week
Jan 11, 2017
The Hopkins Royals boys basketball team has started this season with a 10-2 record, one of their losses being to a Lake Conference rival, the Edina Hornets, by a score of 63-73 Starting point guard, Ishmael El- Amin, senior, didn’t play in the contest against Edina. This is a big change from last season, when the team didn’t lose their first game till the end of January, to the Wayzata Trojans, by a score of 58-71.
As far as statistics go, El- Amin, and Simon Wright, senior, are leading the Royals in points per game, with 22.9 and 15.2 respectively. Blaise Beauchamp, freshman, is also carrying his weight with 11.4 ppg for the Royals. Both of the Royals big men, Joe Hedstrom, junior, and Zeke Nnaji, sophomore, are providing a major presence inside the paint with seven and five rebounds per game respectively.
The Royals have a couple of tough matchups coming up, and hard work needs to be a focus point in practice.
“Wayzata and Maple Grove in back to back games will be tough, they’re both top 5 teams right now,” Wright said. “We need to have a good week of practice with all the guys locked in so we can win these games.”
El-Amin is still very hopeful about the rest of this season
“The season is progressing over the weeks and we are starting to make a stride as team especially defensively,” El-Amin said. “We have four big games coming up, and we’re going to buckle down this week at practice to get ready for the games.”
In their last five games, the Royals have been 4-1 with their only loss being to a 2A school by the name of Minnehaha Academy, who is led by a top recruit in the class of 2020, Jalen Suggs, who is averaging 27 ppg through nine games.
In their last four wins, the Royals have beaten their adversaries by an average of 41 points. Their most recent win was over Robbinsdale Cooper, by a final score of 91- 44.
After the Royals play the Wayzata Trojans, on Fri. Jan. 13, at Wayzata, they will be playing again Jan. 14, in an out-of-conference matchup as they host the Maple Grove Crimson. After the Crimson the Royals will bounce back into Lake Conference play on Jan. 20, as they will host the Eagles of Eden Prairie.