For the first time in Hooks ISD history, the Varsity Boys Basketball went to San Antonio to compete in the State Semifinal round. The game was held on Thursday at 1:30 p.m., at the Alamodome, where the Mighty Hornets faced off against the Hitchcock Bulldogs. After a tough game, the Hornets ended their season as State Semifinalist and received bronze metals in a ceremony immediately after the game ended.

“Going to state in basketball was both nostalgic and prideful for the Hooks community,” Principal Beverly Shannon said.

The boys had come a long way to get to this point, winning against many well coached teams. On Friday, February 24th, the boys faced off against the West Rusk Bulldogs, at the Pittsburg High School gym. The game kept the players on their feet and the fans out of their seats. The Hornets went in with a solid mindset on this game believing that they were going to advance to the next round of playoffs.

“I felt great when I made the winning shots and we won the game,” Varsity Basketball Player Carveion Johnson said.

The starting five consisted of Senior Landon Hamilton, Junior Carveion Johnson, Senior Nate Campbell, Junior Jatavious Johnson, and Junior Keyshawn Walls. There was a lot of back and forth between the teams, but the Hornets took the lead in the first half of the game with a score of 26-24.

In the last minute of the game, the score was tied 40-40 with the opposing team holding the ball. They ran down the clock to hold only nine seconds left, scoring one point along the way. Hooks received the ball with only a few seconds to spare, and Carveion Johnson managed to score two penalty free throws to win the game. The final score of the game was 42- 41 with Hooks narrowly winning the game.

“This [was] a very proud moment for Hooks,” Hamilton said. “It has been around twenty years since our basketball team has made it to the fourth round.”

As we moved on to the fourth round, our hornets went into double overtime with one of the highest ranking teams in the state. In the last milliseconds of the second overtime, Walls shot the winning two-pointer and took Hooks to the fifth round. On Saturday the 4th, Hooks played against Mineola and managed to keep the score ahead enough to win the game.

Overall, the Hornets had a very successful year and have made their community extremely proud.