Hoover wins Holiday Invitational Tournament, Clovis North captures Mission Prep Classic
The long-standing Holiday Invitational Tournament concluded last weekend with Hoover defeating Sunnyside 61-48 in the championship game.
Pamir Olivier was named the tournament's Most Valuable Player.
Hoover advanced to the championship after defeating El Diamante, Fresno and Edison, and even lost some players due to injury.
'We want to create a team where everybody plays the best basketball,' Hoover coach Tezale Archie said. 'Everybody is a factor, everybody contributes. That you can't look at Hoover and say hey, the key is stopping this player or that player. That's always been our mindset. After we lost three players in this tournament, plus the one with the concussion, we weren't looking at it at some disadvantage. We lost some very key players, but we have a next man up mentality.'
Central won last year's tournament. Other past winners since 2018 include Hoover, Edison, TMI and Edison.
It was an all 559 matchup in the Mission Prep Christmas Classic championship.
The defending Central Section Division Open champions Clovis North defeated Bullard 56-42.
The Knights had taken a 34-31 lead in the third quarter, but the Broncos rallied and went on a 17-0 run to pull away for good.
The Clovis Elks Classic is underway and ends on Monday with the boys championship game.
Teams participating are Centennial, Clovis, Corcoran, Edison, Fowler, Garza, Hanford West, Hoover, Independence, Kennedy, Kerman, Lemoore, Merced, Mission Oak, Pleasant Grove, Reno, Ridgeview, Sierra, Sunnyside and West-Tracy.
All games are played at Clovis High.
Also going on is the 73rd Polly Wilhelmsen Tournament, played at Mt. Whitney and Redwood highs.
The North girls are the defending champions.
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