Basketball Game Preview: Hoover Tornados vs. Hawthorne Cougars

The Hoover Tornados will be taking part in a tournament against the Hawthorne Cougars at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday. Hoover knows how to get points on the board -- the squad has finished with 55 points or more in their past six matches -- so hopefully Hawthorne likes a good challenge.

Hoover took a loss when they played away from home two weeks ago, but their home fans gave them all the motivation they needed on Friday. Everything went their way against St. Monica Academy as Hoover made off with a 64-38 win. The Tornados have made a habit of sweeping their opponents off the court, having now won three contests by 26 points or more this season.

Meanwhile, Hawthorne humbled Animo Leadership with a 61-28 victory. While fans of the Cougars might be used to big wins, the 33-point margin marked the team's biggest one yet.

Hoover better focus on containing Alfredo Ramirez and Irain Bindi as the pair were huge in Hawthorne's win. Ramirez posted 14 points, while Bindi earned 14 points. The dominant performance gave Bindi a new career-high in points. The team also got some help courtesy of Kordae Edwards, who had eight points.

Hoover is on a roll lately: they've won six of their last seven games, which provided a nice bump to their 6-4 record this season. Those victories came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 62.3 points per game. As for Hawthorne, they now have a winning record of 4-3.