Bulldogs slam dunk Hoover High

The Pasadena High boys’ basketball team survived a second half comeback by visiting Hoover High on Friday night and won, 63-59, in a CIF Southern Section Pacific League game.
The Bulldogs led by 19 points, 44-25, with six minutes left in the third quarter and look like they were cruising to the win. However, behind the hot shooting of Kevin Nazari the Tornadoes cut the lead to two points, 61-59, with just a bit more than a minute to play in the game.
But solid free throw shooting by Pasadena would seal the win.
Pasadena coach Tony Brooks had good things to say about Hoover.
“Hoover’s a good team,” Brooks said. “They keep fighting. We had them down by 19. You got to give credit to them. They never gave up. So, it’s a good test for us.”
Brooks added his team needed a game like this to bring it back down to earth.
“We need games like this because we need to be humbled some time,” he said. “When you’re on a winning streak, sometimes you think you’re never going to lose. This is an indicator that anyone can beat you on any given night.”
He also said he was glad with the way the game finished.
I was happy with the way we pulled it out. We made some plays to pull it out, but still we’ve got a world of improvement to do.
Hoover coach Jack Van Patten said he really thought his team had a chance to pull it out.
“We didn’t play very well in the first half, obviously,” Van Patten said. “In the second half, the zone helped us a little bit. It’s one of those things. We get a couple of breaks here and there, we win the game.”
He added picking up the loss is difficult to stomach.
“It’s tough because I thought we played a pretty good second half,” he said. “We were pretty resilient. (Pasadena) could have blown us out of the water. But the kids stuck with it. It’s just a tough one to lose.”

(Shel Segal can be reached at ssegal@beaconmedianews.com. Follow him via Twitter @segallanded.)

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