Trevor Mbakwe and the Bulldogs are going to state.

Tuesday night’s boys’ basketball game between St. Bernard’s and Minneapolis North was viewed as a stern test for the Bulldogs, the No. 1 team in Class 1A.

The thinking was that the game at 4A North would give us a feeling for how St. Bernard’s will fare once it hits the tournament trail.

The verdict? There’s no reason no doubt that the Bulldogs are the favorite to win the 1A state title. They beat the Polars 65-49. Their 23-0 record, very likely to be 26-0 when the regular season ends, is not built on smoke, mirrors and an inferior schedule.

I’m not saying St. Bernard’s would compete with the best teams in the bigger classes, but North (15-9) is a solid team that gave the Bulldogs a real test. St. Bernard’s had a distinct size advantage with 6-7 Trevor Mbakwe and 6-6 Patrick Cassidy. They combined to score 25 points, with Cassidy hitting some outside shots and Mbakwe doing his damage under the hoop.

North wasn’t big enough to counter, but the Polars relied on tremendous quickness and hustle to keep the game close. North, in fact, jumped to a 9-0 lead and clearly had the Bulldogs frazzled. But St. Bernard’s responded with an 18-0 run and led by four at halftime. Mbakwe picked up his fourth foul – plus a technical foul – with 8:43 to play. But the Bulldogs’ lead was 14 by then. North got within eight in the final minutes but no closer.

It may sound like a broken record, but the boys’ basketball successes keep piling up at Hopkins. The top-ranked Royals’ 73-50 victory over No. 2 Wayzata on Tuesday night was a full-throttle display of the two-time defending Class 4A state champs’ prowess.
The Royals shot the long ball, they worked the ball inside, they stole the ball, they ran the break, they defended very well. This game was the most anticipated matchup of the season so far, and now there is little reason to think Hopkins won’t win another state title.
“It’s great coming away with the win. We knew Wayzata was a great team,” said Gopher-bound Hopkins star Blake Hoffarber. “Coach said it was kind of like a region-type game, with a bunch of fans from both schools.”
Indeed, the visiting students from Wayzata outnumbered the Hopkins students. Then again, Hopkins fans are so accustomed to long postseason runs that some of them will pass on a regular-season game every so often, especially in midweek.
The crowd stretched the 3,200-seat Lindbergh Center well past capacity, with people crowding around the running track that circles the court above the bleachers.
It seemed a little odd to be this far into a basketball series before really having a “big” game in the metro. But the crowd was enthused, the players did their thing and we learned something we already knew:
Hopkins is a very, very good basketball team.
John Millea is at jmillea@startribune.com