Boys hoops preview: Sections

Another year, another Sections tournament for the Royals boys basketball team.

The Royals finished the regular season on a nine game win streak to improve their record to 21-5. They will look to continue their hot streak on their way to the State tournament. They were able to pick up the number two seed in the tournament while the Wayzata Trojans took the one seed.

Robbinsdale Armstrong took the third seed (18-8), St. Louis Park got the fourth seed (13-13), Minneapolis Washburn got the fifth seed (14-10), Robbinsdale Cooper got the sixth seed (12-12), Minneapolis Southwest got the seventh seed (9-17)  and Minneapolis South fell into the last seed (5-21).

Armstrong will face Cooper in their first match-up with the winner playing against the winner of the Royals vs. Lakers.

St. Louis Park will play Washburn in for their first game and the winner of that would play the winner of the Wayzata vs. Minneapolis South game.

The first match-up for the Royals will be against the seventh seeded Lakers. This will be the first meeting of the year between these two teams this season.

During the regular season, the Royals were led by Ish El-Amin and Simon Wright, seniors. They averaged 20.1 and 16 points per game, respectively.

The Lakers were 9-17 this season and were led by Brennan Hawkins, senior, and Niko Polydorou, junior. They are averaging 16.3 and 16.2 points per game, respectively.

With hope to return to State, the Royals will have to face some tough teams to get there.

In the semi-finals, they will most likely face off against the Robbinsdale Armstrong Falcons, a team they have not yet faced this year. The Falcons are led by Race Thompson, junior, who is nationally ranked #62, by 247 Sports, in the class of 2018.

After that it looks like they would face, for the third time this year, the Wayzata Trojans, in the Sections finals. In their previous meeting each team was crowned victor in their own arena.

If all goes as planned for the Royals and they continue this hot streak, they will find themselves in the State tournament once again.