For the Tower-Soudan Golden Eagles, it was a dream season.<BR><BR>A number-one state ranking, 24 straight wins and a huge and loyal local following were all part of the 2003-2004 campaign for the Golden Eagles’ boys basketball team.<BR><BR>But while the Golden Eagles and their faithful had their alarm clocks set for Saturday, when the state tournament concluded in Minneapolis, to wake up from their winter-long dream, the Nashwauk-Keewatin Spartans had other ideas.<BR><BR>The March 19 Section 7A final at Hibbing wasn’t a nightmare, Tower-Soudan fans, it was reality.<BR><BR>The Golden Eagles’ hopes for the program’s first state tournament berth in nearly 60 years ended when N-K won 51-37 before a near sellout crowd of 3,500 fans at the Hibbing Arena.<BR><BR>For Tower-Soudan, the loss was a bitter end to an otherwise extraordinary season.<BR><BR>A highly-touted nucleus, who together had won the state sixth-grade ti