John Warren went to the doctor last week to have his left hand examined. The diagnosis was a fracture.

Warren went back Monday for another evaluation. The problem with his shooting hand was much less severe.

"The doctors said it was just sprained. They didn't see a break or anything," Warren said. "So I just decided to play (Tuesday) and it feels pretty good. Getting back to 100 percent."

The 6-foot-5 senior guard dropped 22 points in Hopkins' 72-64 win at Cretin-Derham Hall Tuesday night, a performance that eased his coach's fears about letting Warren play.

"His hand didn't seem to bother him too much, so that's good," Royals coach Ken Novak Jr. said. "It probably bothered me more than it bothered him"

Novak has every reason to worry about injuries to his top players. Hopkins lost star Amir Coffey for the season after the junior torn the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee in a game on Dec. 2. The Royals dropped back-to-back games and fell out of the Minnesota Basketball News’ Class 4A rankings after Coffey went down.

Losing Warren would be a serious blow to the Royals’ season. 

Warren leads Hopkins in scoring (16.4 points per game), but more importantly, he brings a sense of calm and senior leadership to a team that couldn't find it's style right away with Coffey out of the lineup. 

"At first we struggled a little bit," Warren said. "But after that, during Christmas (tournaments) we picked it up really well and got our chemistry back up, everybody started competing more and we got a lot better. So we've been dealing with it pretty well."

Hopkins has rattled off five straight wins since a 75-69 loss to Maple Grove on Dec. 13 and moved back into the top 10 rankings, coming in at No. 10 in the latest poll.

Warren credits the run to the Royals finally settling into defined roles.

Warren said he thinks his even-keeled demeanor on and off the court has also pushed his teammates in a winning direction. 

"(Being laid back) cools everybody down," Warren said. "I make sure that nobody is doing a lot of unneeded stuff, and I think we're settling in pretty good."

Sophomore Ishmael El-Amin has been a nice surprise off the bench. The guard finished with 14 points in the win over the Raiders, his third consecutive game scoring in double figures. Not bad for a player who did not play in the first few games this season.

"(El -min) has a great understanding of where to be and what to do," Novak said. "His instincts are very, very good, and he's done a great job."

After a rocky start to the season, the Royals are back on track to earn another state tournament bid thanks to Warren's cool and El-Amin playing the role of spark plug.

Senior John Warren scored 22 points as Hopkins defeated Cretin-Derham Hall 72-64 Tuesday night in a nonconference contest at Cretin-Derham Hall High School.

Warren sprained his left (shooting) several days ago, but the 6-foot-5 guard managed to overcome the injury to match his second-highest scoring output of the season. Sophomore guard Ishmael El-Anim chipped in 14 points for the Royals (9-4), ranked No. 10 in Class 4A by Minnesota Basketball News.

Cretin-Derham Hall senior guard Joe Rosga scored a game-high 23 points. Senior forward Sam Neumann had 18 point for the Raiders, who fell to 8-3 with the loss.

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