With an 89-63 road win over Mounds View on Friday night, Woodbury officially doubled its win total from just a season ago.

Ike Thilgen was a sophomore starter last year for a Royals team that finished the regular season with a 6-20 record and lost to Stillwater in the first round of the Class 4A, Section 4 playoffs.

Woodbury is 12-2 this season, and Thilgen said one of the biggest keys to the Royals' turnaround is chemistry.

"Last year we didn't really flow together," said Thilgen, who now comes off the bench. "This year, Jeremiah (Coddon) is a great example. He knows where everybody is on the court and he's doing a really good job (leading the offense), and we're flowing better as a team."

Coddon, a junior guard known for his talents on the Woodbury football team, is averaging 18.6 points per game to pace the Royals offense and dropped a game-high 26 points on Friday night.

But it's also the contributions from players such as Thilgen, who scored a season-high 19 points against Mounds View, that also factor in to the Royals' early success.

"(Thilgen has) just kind of accepted his (bench) role and decided he's going to do a really good job with it," Woodbury coach Kent Getzlaff said. 

While most players would probably have an issue with becoming a reserve player after being a starter the previous season, Thilgen said that isn't the case.

"My No. 1 goal in mind is having the team win," he added. "Being a starter. Coming off the bench. It really doesn't matter to me as long as we're winning."

The Royals have picked up plenty of wins lately (eight straight to be exact) since a 69-67 loss to Suburban East Conference-leading Cretin-Derham Hall on Dec. 8 and have signature wins over Roseville, Mounds View and Rochester John Marshall, ranked No. 9 in Class 4A by Minnesota Basketball News.

Woodbury's new-found chemistry is just the start of how the team has piled up victories.

Coddon and some of his basketball teammates were part of a Woodbury football team that found success this season, finishing with a 6-2 record, and the athleticism has fingerprints all over the Royals' hardwood game. 

"We certainly have the right personnel (to play fast)," Getzlaff said. "Our guys seem to have this thing where if we don't play fast on both offense and defense, we kind of get lackadaisical. So we have to (full-court) press just to get our guys going at full speed on both ends."

Thilgen says having so many fast, athletic guys on the team is a ton of fun.

"You get tired really fast," Thilgen said. "It's just great because it gives us such an advantage against other teams."

And that means more than six wins.

Junior Jeremiah Coddon scored a game-high 26 points as Woodbury beat Mounds View 89-63 on Friday night in Suburban East Conference play at Mounds View High School.

Junior Ike Thilgen finished with a season-high 19 points and sophomore Michael Jones had 15 for the Royals (12-2, 5-1).

Senior guard Nate Albers led the Mustangs (11-2, 5-1) in scoring with 20 points.

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