Basketball Game Preview: Hoover Patriots vs. Sanger Apaches

The Hoover Patriots will take on the Sanger Apaches at 6:30 p.m. on Friday. Hoover has insisted on making their lastthree contests complete nail-biters, turning in a record of 2-1 during that stretch of close contests.

Last Wednesday, in a tight match that could have gone either way, Hoover made off with a 71-70 victory over Edison. Given the Patriots' advantage in MaxPreps' California basketball rankings (they are ranked 312th, while the Tigers are ranked 965th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.

Pamir Olivier

Points (Career)

12/20/24 vs Edison	19
01/15/25 @ Edison	25
02/15/24 vs Roosevelt	21
01/03/24 vs Bullard	17
12/19/23 @ Sanger West	16

Hoover relied on the efforts of Pamir Olivier, who posted 25 points, and Cesar Juarez, who earned 23 points. The dominant performance gave Olivier a new career-high in points. Another player making a difference was Keon Hill, who had seven points.

Sanger has been a dominant force so far, but they're in the middle of a mini-slump at the moment. They took a 62-45 bruising from San Joaquin Memorial on Wednesday. The contest marked the Apaches' lowest-scoring game so far this season.

Hoover's win bumped their record up to 10-6. As for Sanger, their defeat ended a five-game streak of wins at home dating back to last season and dropped them to 14-6.

Hoover came up short against Sanger when the teams last played back in November of 2023, falling 71-67. Can Hoover avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.