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Photo by Claire Johnson
Hoover Basketball
Hoover’s Messiah Millin during the Class 7A state championship game between Hoover and Tuscaloosa County on Saturday, March 7, 2026, at Legacy Arena in Birmingham. Photo by Claire Johnson.
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Photo by Claire Johnson
Hoover Basketball
Hoover’s Riley Kent during the Class 7A state championship game between Hoover and Tuscaloosa County on Saturday, March 7, 2026, at Legacy Arena in Birmingham. Photo by Claire Johnson.
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Photo by Claire Johnson
Hoover Basketball
Hoover’s Kane Burns during the Class 7A state championship game between Hoover and Tuscaloosa County on Saturday, March 7, 2026, at Legacy Arena in Birmingham. Photo by Claire Johnson.
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Photo by Claire Johnson
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Hoover’s Michael Glass during the Class 7A state championship game between Hoover and Tuscaloosa County on Saturday, March 7, 2026, at Legacy Arena in Birmingham. Photo by Claire Johnson.
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Hoover’s Mellow June during the Class 7A state championship game between Hoover and Tuscaloosa County on Saturday, March 7, 2026, at Legacy Arena in Birmingham. Photo by Claire Johnson.
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Hoover’s Michael Gates during the Class 7A state championship game between Hoover and Tuscaloosa County on Saturday, March 7, 2026, at Legacy Arena in Birmingham. Photo by Claire Johnson.
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Hoover’s Kane Burns during the Class 7A state championship game between Hoover and Tuscaloosa County on Saturday, March 7, 2026, at Legacy Arena in Birmingham. Photo by Claire Johnson.
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Hoover’s Michael Glass during the Class 7A state championship game between Hoover and Tuscaloosa County on Saturday, March 7, 2026, at Legacy Arena in Birmingham. Photo by Claire Johnson.
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Hoover’s Michael Glass during the Class 7A state championship game between Hoover and Tuscaloosa County on Saturday, March 7, 2026, at Legacy Arena in Birmingham. Photo by Claire Johnson.
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Hoover’s Kane Burns during the Class 7A state championship game between Hoover and Tuscaloosa County on Saturday, March 7, 2026, at Legacy Arena in Birmingham. Photo by Claire Johnson.
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Photo by Claire Johnson
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Hoover’s Jackson Sheffield during the Class 7A state championship game between Hoover and Tuscaloosa County on Saturday, March 7, 2026, at Legacy Arena in Birmingham. Photo by Claire Johnson.
BIRMINGHAM – The story of the 2025-26 season didn’t end the way the Hoover High School boys basketball team hoped, but head coach Scott Ware is no less proud of this year’s team than the last three, which won Class 7A state titles.
Hoover fell to Tuscaloosa County 65-54 on Saturday evening at Legacy Arena in Birmingham, finishing as the 7A state runner-up in the AHSAA State Finals.
The loss ends a streak of the Bucs having won three straight state championships.
“One game doesn’t define who you are,” Ware said following the game. “It doesn’t define this team and who these guys are. Nobody gave these guys a shot. Nobody.”
Following the graduation of a star-studded group that won three consecutive championships and capped it off with an undefeated campaign last season, the Bucs reloaded with a crew of unproven players and grinded their way back to the state finals.
Hoover ends the season with a 25-11 record, one that embodies the struggle and growth that defined the team.
“It was hard,” guard Riley Kent said. “We had a lot of new people. Coach Ware really carried us and showed us what it was to be a basketball team. We grew a lot as men.”
For two quarters, it looked as if Hoover may be well on its way to a fourth straight triumph. The Bucs led 21-17 after a quarter of play and took a 30-24 edge into the halftime break. But the third quarter was the difference in the game.
In that decisive quarter, Tuscaloosa County outscored the Bucs 28-8, catching every ounce of momentum and opening up a double-digit lead early in the fourth quarter.
“The third quarter was not good for us,” Ware said. “There’s a lot of things we didn’t do well there, but they did a lot of good things. We had them on the ropes late…they were shooting some shots I’m sure [coach] didn’t want them to take, but we kept bringing it down and not capitalizing.”
Ware said entering the game, the Bucs were focused on winning the rebounding battle and getting more loose balls, what coaches refer to as “50-50 balls.” The Bucs outrebounded County 24-21, but Ware felt like the Wildcats got more 50-50 balls.
“Every time they got one of those, a big play came from that,” Ware said.
In the contest, Michael Glass led Hoover with 14 points.
“We were a family,” the senior said. “We went through everything together.”
Vanderbilt commit Jackson Sheffield was saddled with foul trouble and struggled to get into rhythm. He finished the night with 12 points and five rebounds. Kent added 11 points as well, to give the Bucs three double-figure scorers.
The title was the first in the career of County head coach Curt Weeks, who Ware calls a personal friend and is one of the good guys of the sport. Ford Traweek led the way with 22 points for the Wildcats.
For as much firepower as the Bucs lost after their magical three-year run, they regrouped and reloaded and returned to the state finals yet again. Eight seniors will depart after this season, and they will need to find a way to do it all over again.
Ware believes in the standard of the program to do just that.
“We’ll lose a lot again,” he said. “The guys that are part of this, they’ll have to decide whether they want to go back to work and pull some of the younger guys along with them to give us another chance.”
