The Royals (19-9, 7-5) began to step up their ball pressure and defensive intensity. It was unlike anything Wayzata coach Bryan Schnettler had seen in the regular season or on tape.

The postseason will bring that out of teams.

“We told them pregame we knew they were going to come out swinging,” Schnettler said. “Not going to lie, I didn’t expect them to come out hitting that hard. They pressured us really hard. They hit big shots. We struggled for a little bit, but we stayed together and found a way to make plays.”

One of those big shots was a near full-court shot that Moore hit at the buzzer to give Hopkins a 34-24 halftime advantage.

A slow start was nothing new to Wayzata (24-4, 11-1). The Trojans led just 33-30 at halftime of its 75-57 section semifinal win against Robbinsdale Armstrong on March 10.

“In the locker room at halftime we knew there was never a doubt,” said guard Jake Berkland, one of eight seniors on Wayzata’s roster. “We knew we were coming back.”

Berkland scored seven of his nine points in the second half and created havoc in the passing lanes on defense.

“I think Jake Berkland came off the bench and completely flipped that game for us,” Schnettler said. “Got some steals, got some layups, hit some free throws. We don’t do that without the way he played in the second half.”

Wayzata scored the first five points of the second half. The comeback looked to be on from the get go, but Hopkins counterpunched to go back up 10. The Royals eventually got their lead up to 12 with less than nine minutes to play.

“We know they’re a really good team, but we also know we can compete with anybody, so we just had to stay calm, lock in, play our offense, play our style of game,” Wayzata senior forward Spencer Hall said, “and we knew we’d win if we did that.”

The Trojans responded with a 14-0 run that was sparked after Jackson McAndrew was fouled shooting a three. McAndrew blew the roof off the gym when he drilled a three that gave the home team a 64-62 lead with less than three minutes remaining.

With 1:17 to go, senior guard Wayne Tibbits made one of two free throws to put the Trojans up by three. His miss was the team’s only one from the line in the second half on 16 attempts.

The Royals responded with a layup from Vincent Hillesheim with 7.1 seconds left.

Tibbits received the ensuing inbound pass and was shoved in the backcourt with 6.4 seconds to go. He made the front-end of a one-and-one before Schnettler called a timeout.

“Hayden’s as confident as any kid I’ve ever coached. I’m not worried about him getting iced,” Schnettler said of the decision to call timeout. “He’ll make big shots when we need him, and he’s going to continue it next week.”

Tibbits coolly sank the next free throw to score his game-high 23rd and final point.

“That’s Hayden Tibbits. He’s a leader,” Berkland said. “There was no doubt that he was making those shots.”

The Trojans added two free throws to secure the win and another trip to state. 

“We’ve got a lot of seniors(on)  this team,” Hall said. “We didn’t want that to be our last one. We just locked down and weren’t going to lose that game.”

Friends and family were teeming the sidelines during the awards ceremony ready to embrace the Trojans after a wild victory.

“I’ve never seen it as packed. I love our fans. Look at the court right now,” Hall said, motioning to the mass of humanity around him. “It’s awesome.”