Season recap: Boys basketball

The Hopkins Royals boys’ basketball season came to an end last night Wed., Mar. 15.

The Royals made a nice run in the sections tournament by winning two games by 30+ points. They beat the Southwest Lakers in the first round and the Robbinsdale Cooper Hawks in the second round.

After two wins, the Royals earned a ticket into the sections final game against the Wayzata Trojans. The Royals fell 66-51 and thus their season ended.

The Royals had an impressive regular season, even though it was below average. They finished with a 23-6 record with a 6-2 conference record.

The Royals had a slow start against the conference teams starting 0-2 with the losses coming against the Edina Hornets and the Trojans. The Royals picked it up after that by going undefeated in conference play.

Over the season, the Royals only lost back-to-back games once. They lost to the Trojans first then to Maple Grove.

During the season Ken Novak Jr., head coach, earned his 800th career win as a coach. That was a big milestone for him. The milestone came after the Royals defeated the St. Louis Park Orioles 92-78.

Another big milestone for the Royals was Simon Wright, senior, scoring his 1,000th career point. Wright achieved this during the semi-final game of sections against Cooper.

Earlier in the season, Ish El-Amin, senior, also hit the 1,000 career points mark. El-Amin did this in a win against the Trojans on Feb. 17.

This season the Royals were led by El-Amin and Wright who averaged 20.1 and 16 points per game, respectively.

With this season ending, there are four seniors who will never dribble for Hopkins again. Those seniors are El-Amin, Wright, Antoin Watson and Daryl Mayfield.

Next season, the Royals will turn to Joe Hedstrom and Anthony Davis, juniors and Blaise Beauchamp, freshman.