Hoover drops league game

Tornado boys’ basketball team remains winless in league.

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By David Zakaryan

The Hoover boys’ basketball team dropped its 13th straight league game on Tuesday evening, losing, 52-31, to Pasadena High at home.

In their previous matchup in January, Pasadena outlasted Hoover, 76-55, in a hard-fought battle.

The game started off slow.

The low-scoring first quarter came to an end with the Bulldogs up, 8-4.

With Hoover’s offense still trying to find its rhythm, Pasadena slowly created a 10-point lead heading into halftime.

Coming out of the break, Pasadena went on a run.

The Tornados kept struggling on the offensive end of the floor, while the Bulldogs kept attacking with efficiency. Hoover was outscored, 18-4, in the third quarter.

Down 24 to start the fourth quarter, the Tornados put up the best effort they could, outscoring the Bulldogs, 15-12. 

Hoover’s only player with double-digit points was Zack Van Patten, who scored 18.

Reflecting on the team’s scoring struggles, Van Patten said: “We weren’t really shooting well. We just have to own that and shoot better. We got some open shots and we didn’t hit them.”

When asked about the key adjustment before the matchup against Glendale, both Van Patten and Mo Shareef mentioned defense. “Defense and ball movement. We definitely have to move the ball better and play better defensively,” Shareef said.

In the first meeting of the season at Glendale High, Hoover suffered a heartbreaking 70-67 loss, after controlling the flow of the game for the majority of the time but giving it away in the last few minutes of the fourth.

To finish the season, Tornados will face the Nitros again on Thursday at 7:00pm at home.