Hoover Huskies Move to State Tourney’s “Final Four”
With their win over Ames, the Hoover Huskies move on to the semifinals of the State Basketball Tournament.
“Huskies Unleashed on the Well” read the gold state tournament t-shirts worn by practically everybody in the Hoover cheering section last night at Wells Fargo Arena.
But that’s not exactly the best way to characterize Hoover’s 38-29 quarterfinal conquest of Ames, a win that landed Coach Courtney Henderson’s scrappy pack in the Class 4A Final Four. Disciplined better describes Henderson’s game plan. He kept his quick, extremely defensive players on a short leash in leading them to a 22nd win against one lone loss.
When Hoover’s Little Big Man Khallid Edwards quickly tallied the game’s first bucket and Ames’ lanky postman Javan White promptly answered with a dunk at the other end the game looked to be off and running. But that first impression amounted to a false start. Defense is behind the shine on their glittering record and that’s ultimately what allowed the Huskies to polish off the Little Cyclones for the second time this season.
Hoover literally had its fans behind them with the student pep section positioned directly behind the team bench. If there was any downside to that proximity it would have been difficulty in hearing Henderson’s orders during timeouts. When the team gathered around him after the first quarter the sweat was broken and the big-stage jitters were gone. Henderson probably had nothing to preach that they haven’t heard before anyway.
Hoover took a 21-15 lead into the locker room at halftime. Edwards connected on all four of his first half shots, two of them three-pointers, and rugged Nate Lee muscled his way to seven rebounds before the intermission. But despite getting the ball through the hoop only once in the third quarter (another field goal was counted on a goaltending call against White) the Huskies still carried a five point lead into the 4th quarter.
On the bench between quarters Henderson looked his team in the eyes. The din in the stands had dialed up a few decibels. Instead of diagramming the final piece of the victory puzzle on the grease board court he took with him into the huddle, Henderson put it aside and reiterated what had carried the team to this brink: “Play defense and rebound,” he stressed repeatedly. “Play defense and REE-BOUND!”
They did.
The hungry pack of Huskies defended their goal like it was a pork chop and the sum of them was too much for the big dog White to overcome. In the final quarter Hoover spread the court and let Chris King do his CIML Player of the Year thing, driving and dishing, forcing Ames to foul and start the parade to the free throw line that salted the game away.
A score of 38-29 may register like a halftime total but the decision is final. Hoover moves on to face 22-2 Pleasant Valley in Friday afternoon’s semifinals at 3:15. The Spartans did most of their damage against another green-and-gold foe, Cedar Rapids Kennedy, around the basket in the opener of Wednesday night’s session.
They may find it a little harder to get at tomorrow.
