Prep Review : Hoover’s Built a Vaccuum From Rest of Conference

SAN DIEGO â€”  While Poway and Patrick Henry high schools are dominating the San Diego Section boys basketball scene, Hoover is quietly advancing in the ranking.

Poway and Patrick Henry, the San Diego 3-A Conference finalists last season, are headed for another confrontation--both are undefeated.

But Hoover (5-0 in the City Central and 17-2 overall), the county’s top-ranked 2-A team has moved to No. 6 in the county Top Ten.

The high-scoring Cardinals are the only county team with three scorers in the top 25. Sam Aguirre averages 19.9 points per game, Keith Williams averages 19.7 and Ken Matthews scores 16.7.

“I don’t want to sound cruel, but I really don’t care about that (the stats),� Hoover Coach Harold Mitrovich said. “The bottom line is if they’re not happy winning, then you don’t want them around. Fortunately, I have the kind of kids that understand that.�

Mitrovich, however, understands the advantages of Hoover’s scoring depth. Recalling a game against Kearny earlier this season, he said:

“They ran a triangle and two defense on Sam and Keith. Bill Peterson (Kearny’s coach) is a good coach. He looks for the angles.�

With the defense concentrating on Aguirre and Williams, Matthews was left free to score 18 points and get 15 rebounds in Hoover’s win.

“You can defense one or maybe two players,� Mitrovich said. “But it’s tough to stop a third.�

Hoover’s defeats were to No. 2 Patrick Henry and No. 3 Sweetwater. Mitrovich does not believe that his team will become overconfident.

“They have a tremendous undercurrent of determination,� he said. “I told them, ‘I hope you guys don’t have to get beat again to get motivated,’ and one of the players said, ‘coach, we’ve already lost twice and that’s two times too many.’ �

Basketball business: Teams will begin the second round of their respective league play on Tuesday and one school, University, should decide its playoff future by Friday.

Mission Bay (12-5) will play host to University (12-8) on Tuesday starting at 3 p.m. and Kearny (13-6) will play host to University on Friday at 7:45 p.m.

The City Western League became the county’s tightest race when Mission Bay upset Kearny, 58-55, on Friday. Mission Bay was coming off a loss to University, which put the two in a second place tie before the Kearny game. Kearny was in sole possession of first at the time.

But Mission Bay’s Jon Cheatam scored 19 points and Mike Rogers made 6 free throws in the final 33 seconds to lead the Bucs past Kearny. Mission Bay held Kearny forward Brad Milhoan, the county’s fourth leading scorer, to 10 points.

Mission Bay’s win placed it in a three-way tie for first place with University and Kearny. All have 4-1 records.

Hoover will play host to Lincoln (3-2, 7-9) on Tuesday at 3 p.m. Lincoln moved into second place in the City Central League when Hoover beat Saint Augustine (2-3, 7-10), 103-68, on Friday. Crawford (3-2, 7-9) also is in second.

Point Loma’s challenger: The Point Loma girls basketball team (17-0) won its 45th consecutive game, a San Diego Section record, on Wednesday.

The Pointers were immediately considered overwhelming favorites to win the 3-A Conference title when they switched from the 2-A prior to this season. The Pointers left El Camino (18-1) in the 2-A. The Wildcats are scheduled to capture the vacated title.

The Pointers’ record-setting win on Wednesday was against Patrick Henry (9-4), a team that lost in last season’s 3-A title game. Point Loma dominated the Patriots, 62-33. The Pointers outscored Patrick Henry, 18-3, in the first quarter.

But the most overlooked team in county is 3-A defending champion Santana (17-0). Santana beat Granite Hills, 56-25, on Friday. It led at halftime, 25-5, before coasting to the win.

Sheri Johnson (5-feet 11-inches) led the Sultans with 18 points on Friday and Chris Sherman (5-10) had 12. Sherman is the county’s fifth leading scorer, averaging 21.8 points per game. Leading Sherman in scoring are El Camino’s Sharon Turner (33.4), Point Loma’s Terri Mann (26.0), Monte Vista’s Paula Mascari (23.4) and Clairemont’s Karen Chariker (22.0).