Basketball Game Preview: McKinley Bulldogs vs. Hoover Vikings

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Previous Games

01/14/25 - Home	53-49 W
01/12/24 - Away	48-50 L
12/08/23 - Home	46-43 W
01/13/23 - Home	42-58 L
12/02/22 - Away	57-42 W
+ 5 more games

McKinley and Hoover are an even 5-5 against one another since January of 2021, but not for long. The McKinley Bulldogs will venture away from home to challenge the Hoover Vikings at 6:45 p.m. on Tuesday. McKinley has been getting the ball to fall more lately as they've increased their point totals each of their last three games.

McKinley easily dispatched Green on Tuesday, but unfortunately both the margin and the ultimate result were a different story in this one. McKinley fell just short of Jackson by a score of 74-71 on Friday. Despite running the score up even higher than they did in their prior game on Tuesday (70), the Bulldogs still had to take the loss.

Despite their loss, McKinley saw several players rise to the challenge and make noteworthy plays. Reed Sims Jr, who went 9 of 21 to rack up 21 points and eight rebounds, was perhaps the best of all. Anthony Chavers was another key player, going 6 for 15 on his way to 16 points and three steals.

Even though they lost, McKinley smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 15 offensive boards. The team's really been improving in that area: they've now improved their offensive board total in three consecutive games.

Meanwhile, it may have taken overtime to finish the job, but Hoover ultimately got the result they hoped for on Friday. They walked away with a 57-49 victory over Perry. The win almost wasn't to be: the Vikings were down 34-18 in the second quarter.

Hoover's victory was their third straight on the road, which pushed their record up to 14-6. Those victories came thanks in part to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 61.7 points over those games. As for McKinley, their defeat was their first in the conference, dropping their conference record down to 10-1 and their overall record down to 14-5.

McKinley didn't have too much breathing room in their contest against Hoover when the teams last played back in January, but they still walked away with a 53-49 win. The rematch might be a little tougher for McKinley since the squad won't have the home-court advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.