“We just played our game,” Farmington coach Tharen Johnson said. “That’s kind of our team. Last year, we kind of had some of the stars like Kyle (Hrncir) and some of the guys who moved on to college. Baiden’s a hell of a player and Brandon had a nice game, but we rely on ball movement, getting guys open and guys knocking shots down when they got their chance.”

The aforementioned Kyle Hrncir is now at Upper Iowa University for baseball and basketball. The forward was part of a triumvirate of top scorers who graduated after combining to average 45 points per game for last season’s Class 4A, Section 1 runner up squad.

A lot of new faces and facing a blue blood to open the season spelled a tight loss to Hopkins in game one, but chemistry is quickly building.

The Tigers, ranked No. 16 in the Dec. 14 Minnesota Basketball News Class 4A rankings, got past Rochester Century and picked up a win over previously state-ranked Bloomington Jefferson last week, shutting down Division I prospect Daniel Freitag in the latter.

“We keep getting better, pushing each other every day in practice just getting after each other,” Bean said. “It’s huge for our team. Having a team of a lot of new players, it’s really good to come out this strong.”

Eight days off since the Bloomington Jefferson game made for some antsy players ready to compete.

Johnson didn’t mind the extra practice.

It allowed his team to have plenty of time to prepare for Eden Prairie’s 6-foot-6 senior post Chiddi Obiazor. He led the Eagles with 14 points and threw down a couple thunderous dunks, but life was otherwise tough for the football defensive line prospect heading to Kansas State in the fall.

Double, and even triple teams, flocked Obiazor's way.

“He’s a heck of an athlete, a Division-I football player, he’s just a load down there,” Johnson said. “We’ve got a little bit of length, but not the big body to put on him, so we just wanted to surround him with as many bodies as we could and make other guys make plays.”

No. 3-4A Eden Prairie was also coming off an eight-day break between games. The Eagles looked out of sorts after opening the season with wins over Class 3A power St. Cloud Tech and 4A top-10 foe, Eastview.

The Eagles were without head coach David Flom for the second straight game as he is suspended for using racist language in a team meeting.

The team’s assistant coach and school’s assistant activities director, as well as former Minnesota Golden Gopher, Trevor Mbakwe, was acting head coach.

Eden Prairie hung tough early on despite turnovers and poor free throw shooting to be tied at 13 near the midway point of the half.

Farmington found a flow, while the visitors did not.

“We’re getting better every game,” Brandon Hrncir said. “We’re getting better chemistry every time we play.”

Eden Prairie’s Luke Rapp opened the second half to pull his team within 40-30, but that was as close as the Eagles got.

The Tigers quickly bulged the lead north of 20 and picked up their second straight rout in this matchup. They won 88-57 last season in Eden Prairie.

Another big test looms for Farmington with the No. 2 ranked team coming to town for Tuesday’s South Suburban Conference opener.

“We’ve got a big game coming up with Lakeville North,” Johnson said. “It’s good. I like getting tested early in the year and our guys are responding.”