Hoover Tops Roosevelt as Huskies, Riders Both Sit Atop Conference
It’s customary for the Hoover/Roosevelt rivalry to decide supremacy in Metro Conference boys’ basketball (it even has its own Facebook page!) and this year is no exception. Going into Friday night’s matchup at the Hoover gym the Riders were atop the league standings at 6-0. Nipping at their heels were the Huskies at 4-1, their only loss an early season defeat at the hands of guess who?
Friday night they avenged that earlier 44-40 setback with a 39-32 triumph in front of a packed home house. Was it a hard-fought win? Well, as Jack Nicholson rhetorically asked Tom Cruise in the tense courtroom climax of A Few Good Men, “Is there any other kind?” Not when these two lock horns.
Points were as hard to come by as Fahrenheit in January. Both hoops were defended and assaulted like castles.
Sophomore center Mario (Bigfoot) Manuel got the Riders off to a promising start with a quick basket underneath and a pair of free throws before going to the bench after being saddled with two early fouls. The burly and aptly named freshman Brawntae Wells ably spelled Manuel with two buckets from close range but Hoover’s impregnable defense put the clamps on Roosevelt’s usual offensive supply lines, holding the senior trio of Chris Bennett, Tate Larsen and Trey Burkhall without a field goal in the first half. The stingy Huskies are yet to permit an opponent 50 points on the season.
At intermission the host Huskies led by the mere score of 14-12 and the resemblance to football wasn’t limited to the scoreboard. All that was missing were helmets and shoulder pads.
Roosevelt opened the second half by slapping on some full court defensive pressure. Larsen scored off a forced turnover to tie it at 16-16 and Manuel’s free throw on the Riders’ next possession put them briefly in front. But Malachi Canada canned consecutive shots on Hoover’s next two trips and Chris King’s three-pointer at the buzzer had the home team in front by six at 25-19 after three quarters. The joint was jumping and when Canada opened the fourth with another quick bucket to boost the lead to eight the tipping point seemed at hand. Not a chance. The rest of the game was like the last round of a championship bout with both fighters going for the knockout and the crowd on its feet and roaring. More points were scored in the last stanza than in the entire first half.
Burkhall’s lone bucket at the 5:30 mark pulled the Riders within six. Bennett’s three-ball made it 30-26 midway through the quarter and he quickly followed that by scoring underneath off an assist from Larsen whose free throw cut the deficit to one with 3:45 remaining.
Canada countered for Hoover but Larsen answered with a drive to the hoop that made it 32-31 with 2:30 to go.
That’s when the smallest kid on the court, Hoover’s 5’8” sophomore point guard, Khalid Edwards, took charge with a clutch half dozen on a basket and four straight free throws that sealed the victory as Roosevelt unraveled with consecutive turnovers down the stretch. Huskie senior Gatlat Toang punctuated the story of Hoover’s sweet revenge with an exclamatory shot block in the waning seconds.
All told both teams managed 11 field goals in the contest and each was whistled for 16 fouls. The difference in the game was at the charity stripe where the Huskies converted 15-21 and Roosevelt struggled at 8-15.
Hoover followed Friday night’s win by beating Indianola on Saturday to pull into a dead heat for the Metro top spot with the Riders at 6-1.
Don’t look for things to change anytime soon in the series between the conference stalwarts. All but three of Hoover’s points were tallied by underclassmen. And Roosevelt’s immediate future looks secure in the large, capable hands of Manuel and Wells.
