Hopkins Rolls Over North St. Paul

The Hopkins Royals left little doubt they will be in the mix for the Class 4A championship by rolling over a good North St. Paul team 74-42 at Target Center today.

Five-foot-11 senior Xavier Johnson led the Royals with 20 points in 26 minutes, 6-foot senior Vinnie Shahid had 11 points and five rebounds, and 6-foot-6 junior Simon Wright 10 points and seven boards.

However, 6-foot-8 senior Amir Coffey fell hard in the first half while attempting to block a shot and was in obvious pain when he gingerly walked off the floor rubbing his lower back. He came into the game with a turf toe issue and the coaches hope he'll be able to go Thursday night. Coffey played just 15 minutes and scored eight points along with grabbing five rebounds.

North St. Paul never got close after trailing 8-7 early. The Polars shot 29 percent in the game (15-51), 21 percent from three-point range (3-14) and were only outboarded 40-35.

Hopkins shot 46 percent (29-63), 29 percent from long range (4-14). The Royals were 12-17 and Polars 9-14 from the charity stripe.

North St. Paul finishes their season with a 24-6 record and Hopkins is 29-1. The Royals' only loss came against Wayzata on January 29.