There Kamali Chambers stood, in the middle of the Target Center court, hardly moving. His team, Hopkins, and Shakopee were tied 41-41 in the semifinals of the Class 4A basketball state tournament Thursday and the Royals were stalling, hoping to draw Shakopee out of its zone defense.
The two teams stood facing each other, neither moving, for the last three minutes of regulation and nearly three full overtimes. And Chambers, Hopkins' smiling, gregarious point guard, was at the center of it all.
"I've never played a game like that in my life," he said. "I mean, I've played slow games before, but never that slow."
Eventually Hopkins won on a last second, 60-foot shot by teammate Amir Coffey in the fourth overtime. But many fans have made up their minds that Hopkins was to blame for the stalling tactics and made their objections known.
Staff writer Jim Paulsen talked with Chambers about how he and his teammates dealt with the rhetoric hurled their way and a wild championship game loss to Lakeville North two nights later.
Q: Whose idea was it to stall?
A: In regulation, it was the players. Coach started drawing up a play on the white board, but we all decided that, if they didn't come, we would hold onto the ball and call timeout at 20 seconds.
Q: It was strange watching that tactic once. But it was unheard of watching it three more times. How do you remember it?
