If there’s one school that understands the mystique factor in prep sports, it’s Eden Prairie.

Perhaps that is part of the reason why the Eagles boys’ basketball team was able to go into the Lindbergh Center on Feb. 1 and hand Hopkins a 75-71 defeat, the Royals’ first in more than a year and the first at home since March 3, 2008.

“It’s like playing Eden Prairie in football; some teams feel like they’re beat before the game even starts,” Eagles basketball coach David Flom said of playing basketball against Hopkins. “But it doesn’t have to be like that.”

Any intimidation factor that Tuesday night didn’t show. The Eagles hit nine three-pointers en route to fending off a late Royals’ rally for the signature victory.

Flom called it taking great shots, not good shots.

“But we have more work to do,” he said. “There is a definite business-like mindset around here. We’ve embraced it.”

Hopkins won the Lake Conference rematch 17 days later at Eden Prairie and comes into the state tournament as the top-seeded team. But the No. 2-seeded Eagles (25-4) still enter Wednesday’s Class 4A state quarterfinal matchup against Lakeville South (21-8) at Target Center with a self-described swagger.

“It’s a confidence that has developed,” said Grant Soderberg, who made three consecutive three-pointers against the Royals in Eden Prairie’s victory. “We’ve been playing together forever it seems, and we don’t want [Wednesday] to be our last game together.”

Soderberg is one of 11 seniors on the Eagles.

“Talk about leadership,” he said. “There you go.”

Soderberg (12.3 points per game) and Dylan Stewart (16.9) lead an Eden Prairie team rich with depth and talent. Stewart and his eye-popping 61 percent shooting accuracy stand out, but 15 players have seen action in at least five games. Flom said they’ve all bought into the schemes he has employed at Eden Prairie since taking the head job five years ago.

“If I start talking about one [player], I will go on and on about another and another and another,” Flom said. “There are different guys that have done it.”

All five starters got state tournament experience last year, the Eagles’ first trip to the big stage in seven seasons.

The team also received the No. 2 seed last March, losing to unseeded St. Cloud Tech in the semifinals before falling to Henry Sibley in the third-place game. Even with that fate, the Eagles were happy to be there after losing in the section championship game in 2009.

“It was almost pure joy and giddiness when we won the section,” Flom said.

Not any longer.

“We have a mission,” Soderberg said. “Last year was fun, obviously, but this year we have a goal. And that’s to win it.”