Go ahead, start debating.

Did Minnesota's best-ever boys basketball team complete its season of dominance Saturday night? Will there ever again be a collection of four Division I players in the same starting lineup? Will the achievement be considered tarnished because the lineup included non-homegrown players?

Putting aside the latter question for another debate, Hopkins again provided compelling evidence that it could indeed have an open-and-shut case for the other queries.

The Royals, the No. 4-ranked team in the nation, won the Class AAAA title everyone figured they would capture with a 69-59 victory over Osseo at Target Center. With his future college coach, Tubby Smith, watching from the sideline, University of Minnesota recruit Royce White scored 18 points to lead a balanced attack that allowed the Royals (31-0) to slowly pull away in the second half.

Though it was a victory in the biggest game of the season, it might not have been the exclamation point that the Royals, or their fans, for that matter, were looking for.

White, a 6-foot-7 playmaker, hit a floating jumper with 4:20 left that gave Hopkins a 60-53 lead. He hit another about minutes later that restored the Royals' seven-point advantage, 62-55.

Raymond Cowels, a Santa Clara recruit, made two free throws with 1:06 remaining to give the Royals a 65-55 advantage, a moment that sent many fans heading for the exits. He finished with 11 points. University of Notre Dame recruit Mike Broghammer also had 11.

Hopkins, which scored more than 100 points eight times this season, is a basketball champion for the sixth time. The Royals were Class AAAA champions in 2002, '05 and '06. They were single-class champions in 1952 and '53.

John Rowland had 17 points for Osseo (29-3).

Just when it appeared that Hopkins was poised to blow the game open, Osseo would chip away to keep the Royals close. After Peterson muscled in a putback, Osseo answered with a three-pointer from John Rowland to pull to within 54-49 with 7:44 left.

Hopkins, shaking off a sputtering performance in the first half, opened the second half with a 7-0 run to stretch its lead to 40-39. White had five points in the run, including a three-pointer from the left elbow.

But the Royals still couldn't shake the Orioles.

Osseo pulled to within 40-36 on a 7-0 run of its own, triggered by a three-pointer from John Rowland.

After Cowels scored the first basket of the game, the Hopkins student section began chanting "This one's over.''

It wasn't quite like that.

Osseo didn't shy away from the mighty beast, at times playing better and smarter than Hopkins. The Royals led 33-29 at the break, thanks to a 7-2 run that snapped a 26-26 deadlock. White had a monster slam off a fast break following two baskets from DJ Peterson.

Cowels and White had nine points each for the Royals in the first half.

Rowland had eight points in the first half.

The Royals wore T-shirts during their pregame warmups that read, simply, "Dynasty."

For this season at least, that is hard to argue.

St. Cloud Tech takes third: Nate Wolters had a dominant performance in his final high school game to help St. Cloud Tech (31-1) defeat Bloomington Jefferson 59-55 at Concordia-St. Paul. Wolters finished with 27 points, 10 rebounds, four assists and four steals.

Moses Alipate led Jefferson (20-9) with 13 points