Eastview boys’ basketball coach Paul Goetz called it “good trouble.”

Early last fall, after consecutive seasons with talented rosters that were prevented from reaching their ultimate goal, the Lightning players were determined to do everything in their power to ensure a good season.

That meant extra time in the gym, working on their shooting. Thing was, there was no set time to do this.

“We had anywhere from five to 10 guys coming in,” senior guard Kenji Scales said. “It was whenever they could get in, sometimes 11 or 12 at night.”

That didn’t sit well with the school custodians. “They came to us and said they can’t be in there that late,” Goetz said. “They were told they couldn’t be there anymore.”

Goetz doesn’t advocate rule-breaking, but it was difficult to find fault. After all, Eastview had a handful of new players he saw as key to any success they’d have. How does he tell them to stop working hard?

“I had to laugh about it,” Goetz said. “We got in trouble, but we’ll say it was good trouble.”

Eastview is back in the Class 4A bracket in the state tournament for the first time since 2019. It was expected three years ago that appearance would be the first of a string of tourney trips, but perhaps the Lightning’s best team in 2020 had the season canceled just as it reached the Section 3 final because of the start of the pandemic.

Last year, another solid campaign was derailed by an unexpected 55-52 loss to Park of Cottage Grove in the section semifinals.

Having seen former teammates have their hopes crushed two years in a row, Scales — the lone experienced veteran from 2021 — told himself he was going to do whatever he could to keep it from happening again.

“I look back on those days with regret and pain,” Scales said, remembering his older brother, Caden, was one of those on the 2020 team, which also included current Wisconsin Badgers post Steven Crowl. “There wasn’t much we could do about 2020, but there was a lot we could have done differently last year. I watched that Park of Cottage Grove game a lot over the summer and it was pretty upsetting.”

As the senior leader, both on the court (16.4 points per game) and off, Scales set an example this year that would be hard to top.

“He is a player that can score at all three levels and just has a motor that won’t stop,” Goetz said. “But most importantly, he just wants to make plays and help the team win. And he plays so hard. I call it at a collegiate level. It’s great for the other players to see how hard he’s working.”

Eastview has gotten big contributions from 6-10 forward Jamal Ambrose, finally healthy after missing much of last year because of a foot injury, rapid development from guard Kayser Hassan, a JV player a year ago who has made himself into a consistent double-digit scorer, and Apple Valley transfer Dylan Omweno, as well as others who have stepped forward this season.

The high point (so far) is a 68-40 romp over Park of Cottage Grove in the section championship game. “We talked a lot about getting another shot at them before the game,” Scales said. “Coach Goetz talked about it. I might have said something. It was motivating.”

At one point in the second half, when the lead had ballooned to 27 points, Scales let himself relax, just a bit, and soaked in what they had accomplished.

“I had gotten subbed out and I turned to my teammate, Sammy Bolger, and I said, ‘We’re about to win this game,’” he recalled, adding that he had dedicated all the section games to the graduated teammates who had two years of state tournament dreams dashed. “I did it for them. It was a pretty emotional night.”