Hopkins coach Ken Novak Jr. referred to Wednesday’s Class 4A quarterfinal against Owatonna as a “worrying game the whole way through,” as his top-seeded and two-time defending champion Royals couldn’t quite seem to put away a feisty squad from Owatonna.

“It got to the point where if Marvin hadn’t held us in today,” Novak said afterwards, “we would have been in big trouble.”

That’s right. Marvin. As in senior Marvin Singleton. Not Joe, as in Star Tribune Metro Player of the Year and future Gopher Joe Coleman, also of Hopkins. While Coleman certainly contributed with 20 points and a college-worthy dunk, his Northern Iowa-bound sidekick, who doesn’t always get the accolades he deserves, carried the load with 20 points and 16 rebounds, many of them at critical times in a 71-57 victory.

When asked whether he sometimes gets overlooked while playing alongside Coleman, Singleton shrugged it off.

“I can’t really think about that,” he said. “I just go out and play my game and try to help the team win.”

That usually works pretty well. Singleton had 27 points and 12 rebounds in Hopkins’ section final victory over Wayzata, and on Wednesday he again topped his 17.4-points-per-game and 8.7-rebounds-per-game averages.

He played big in two key spots against Owatonna, ensuring that Hopkins would not also tumble on a day that saw No. 1-seeded St. Paul Johnson unexpectedly lose to New Prague in Class 3A.

In the first half, Singleton made a pair of free throws, followed by a steal and assist on a Siyani Chambers basket to put Hopkins ahead 18-17 — and for good, as it turned out —after Owatonna led by as many as five points in the early going. His three-point play later in the half helped extend the Hopkins lead to 11 at the break.

In the second half, Singleton corralled six of his eight offensive rebounds and dished to Nicholas Jorgensen for perhaps the game’s biggest basket — a three-pointer with 6:48 remaining after Owatonna had closed to within 56-50. Hopkins led comfortably the rest of the way.

Some have wondered what position the 6-5
Singleton will play in college. After games like the one Singleton had Wednesday, Novak dismisses those concerns.

“I think 15 or 20 years ago it was an issue,” Novak said. Today … he’s versatile enough to play a lot of positions. He can hit threes, he can put it on the floor. His versatility will lead to success for him.”

For now, Novak is just happy he has Singleton to help get him through those “worrying” games and keep Hopkins from being part of a major double upset. A reporter passed along the news to Singleton that St. Paul Johnson, which is led by his close friend Estan Tyler, had lost over at Williams Arena while Hopkins was playing at Target Center.

When asked what he might say to Tyler, Singleton shook his head and replied, “Both of us hate to lose. He might not want to talk about it very much.”