What had the expectations of yet another Glendale rout over Hoover, turned out to be a testy and tough 64-40 victory for Glendale. A back and forth game was put to bed, however, as senior guard Eli Degrate caught fire in the fourth to close out the game for the Nitros.
“Something we’ve always been trying to do is close games, and we were finally able to do that in the final game of league,” said Degrate, who finished with a team-high 18 points.
The Tornadoes (5-22, 1-13) would not back down from the Nitros (18-9, 6-8) and received exceptional play from senior guard Angel Mino. Mino, who finished with a team high 19 points, scored most of his points in the first half. The Nitros were held to a season-low points in the first quarter with six, compared to Hoover’s nine, giving the Tornadoes a three-point advantage at the end of one quarter.
“It was all on us,” Glendale High coach Ib Belou said. “We kept missing a bunch of layups and were not converting.”
As the game rolled on, the Nitros quickly escaped their scoring woes in the second quarter. Senior forward Alexis Ramos nailed back to back three's, shifting the momentum. Ramos finished with nine points and three 3s overall.
A back and forth first half ended with a Glendale High 25-21 lead at the end. This came as a result of poor shooting from Hoover in the second quarter.
“We were focused in the first, but got into trouble scoring offensively later on and it cost us the game.” Hoover High coach Jack Van Patten said.
The Tornadoes would not be stopped as they kept fighting to stay in striking distance. But, the third quarter proved to be a struggle for the Tornadoes, as the shots quit falling for Mino and the Nitros began to slip away.
“They knew they needed to get on me to stop me,” Mino said, “I just had to change my game up and get my teammates more involved.”
With the game closing and Hoover battling back, Degrate began to take over. He tallied up eight of his 19 points in the fourth, ending the hopes of a Tornado victory. Sophomore guard David Shamiryan also contributed with a 3-pointer and layup to help seal the game.
“Eli’s a big part of our team, but we hope the season continues and hopefully we’re in the playoffs next week.” Belou said.
The Nitros will be waiting for the bracket, which will be released this Sunday, to see whether or not they make it to the playoffs. As for the Tornadoes, their season comes to a disappointing end and the loss of many hardworking seniors.
