Hoover boys’ basketball has no answer for Muir

Forgive Hoover High boys’ basketball Coach Jack Van Patten if he’s not too down after his squad dropped its first Pacific League contest of the season Friday evening.

Despite his team scoring the second most points this season, host Hoover was no match for a red-hot Muir squad that utilized an effective inside-outside game in rolling to an 82-62 victory.

“I thought Muir shot the ball well. They shot it much better than we thought they would,” Van Patten said. “We had our chances and we gave up some stuff we shouldn’t have, but I really didn’t think we did all that terribly. We made a few mistakes, but they just shot it really well and it was hard to stop.”

Six-foot-8 sophomore center Darius Henderson was option No. 1 for the Mustangs (7-7, 2-0 in league). The big man finished with 16 points, 11 rebounds and three blocks, including an emphatic one that drew a taunting foul after Henderson wagged his finger at Hoover’s Larenz Garcia-Joseph in the third quarter.

When the Tornadoes crashed down on Henderson, the sophomore kicked out to a variety of shooters who combined to hit nine of 17 attempts from behind the arc.

Muir’s Hunter Woods drained five three-pointers and finished with a team-high 22 points.

For the Tornadoes, senior guard Ale Pirijanian led all scorers with 25 points, 14 of which came in the fourth quarter. Senior guard Rene Deravanesian added 20 points and two steals for Hoover and was his team’s top threat for most of the contest.

“Muir was real quick and we tried our best, but every time we stepped up to them they found the open shot and made it,” Deravanesian said. “They were just quicker and we’ll have to move quicker the next time.”

It was a struggle from the start, as the Tornadoes surrendered the game’s first nine points and trailed, 23-6, with 2:02 left in the first after an inside bucket from Henderson off an assist from Tiyon Martin.

The 17-point deficit remained as the Tornadoes trailed, 27-10, after one quarter.

“I liked our patience tonight,” Muir Coach Simaine Stewart said. “We’re young. We start four sophomores and a junior and the deal with them is that if we’re patient, we get quality shots, make or miss. That’s all I can ask.”

Hoover’s best effort came in the second quarter, as the squad won the eight-minute session, 18-13, and trailed, 40-28, at the break after Nick Hallman sank two free throws with 1 second remaining.

Part of Hoover’s success in the second quarter came from the team avoiding turnovers, while forcing four from the Mustangs.

Any hope of a second-half rally, however, was quickly dashed as the Mustangs scored the first 13 points of the third quarter capped on an and-one bucket from Henderson with 5:14 remaining as Muir led, 53-28.

While Hoover eventually ended the 13-0 run with a layup from Angel Mino, Muir scored the next four points and never allowed the Tornadoes to get any closer than 25 points until the final three minutes of the contest.

“It was a loss, but we don’t allow ourselves to get deflated,” Van Patten said. “They shot well and we’ll look at film, make some adjustments and try to play better next time.”

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Andrew J. Campa, andrew.campa@latimes.com

Twitter: @campadresports