Austin Roop was in charge on Friday night for Hinckley-Big Rock.

The senior guard took four charges and the Royals held on for a 60-57 victory over visiting Indian Creek in Little Ten Conference action.

“I’m not the scorer so I pride myself on being a good passer, just being a glue guy, really,” he said. “I’m doing whatever the team needs to succeed.”

Roop took his fourth charge with 1:48 remaining, just after junior Marshall Ledbetter had split two free throws to give the Royals a 55-52 lead.

Ledbetter led all scorers with 20 points, tallying 14 in the second half.

“I feel like we caught fire in the second half,” he said. “Everyone was just playing well with each other making the right plays.”

Senior Harry Nier made a pair from the line with 54.8 seconds left to extend the lead to 57-52.

Indian Creek’s Jason Brewer scored to pull the Timberwolves to within 57-54, but the Royals extended it to 60-54 after a goaltending call with 23 seconds left followed by a free throw from senior Luke Badal with 6.8 seconds remaining.

The Timberwolves (5-3, 2-1) pulled to within 60-57 on senior Cooper Rissman’s 3 just before the buzzer, but the Royals were able to inbound the ball with 0.6 seconds left and survive.

“We knew it was gonna be a battle coming in here, Hinckley-Big Rock is 7-1 now for a reason,” Timberwolves coach Nolan Govig said. “Very tough, and they pressure the ball really well.”

Rissman’s 3 at the first-quarter buzzer was part of a 9-0 run and a 20-13 advantage for the Timberwolves with 6:15 left in the second quarter.

They also scored the first nine points of the second half, turning a 30-26 halftime deficit into a 35-30 lead midway through the third quarter.

“We did have a few runs there,” Govig said. “Got into some foul trouble, which kind of hurt us in some of those runs, where you have to pull some of those guys out, adjust the lineup. It’s a game of runs, that’s how basketball goes.”

Speaking of going places, Roop will go wherever coach Seth Sanderson asks him.

“Can you talk about more winning plays than (his charges)? He has done such a great job,” Sanderson said. “Talk about the guys who graduated, we asked him to become a ball handler, which is not his comfort zone by any means, but he’s never complained. He guarded (Isaac) Willis and (Payton) Hueber on a couple possessions and took four charges. You can’t put a lot of that in the box (score), but you also can’t take him off the floor.”

Roop had the task of handling Indian Creek’s pressure.

“I’m more like the ball handler of our team so when we got to break the press, I’m up there,” he said. “Trying to break it, setting up the offense, stuff like that.”

Senior Jacob Orin had 14 points and Nier had 10 for the Royals. Roop had one point.

“I’ve been really happy with this whole group,” Sanderson said. “It’s such a blessing to have a senior group, you know, a group that went through winning and a lot of experiences. Guys like Emeka Ezuma came out and played really hard defensively, very active. Harry Nier was hurt all last year and came out and knocked down a three and made some big free throws at the end. It’s those guys that are stepping up into their role just the way you hope for.”

Rissman had 14 points and Parker Murry and Willis each had 13 for the Timberwolves.

Both teams were cold from the line: 4-of-15 for the Timberwolves and 10-of-23 for the Royals.