With the Boyd Buchanan boys’ basketball staff dressed in holiday-themed team sweaters, second-year head coach Matt Hoppe had a lot to smile about on the opening night of the Times Free Press Best of Preps tournament.
Hoppe’s Buccaneers have been one of the hottest high school teams around of late, as they have gone 10-2 and averaged 74.6 points per game since beginning the season 0-5 against a stout schedule.
Senior sharp-shooter Hudson Jones remained red hot as he drilled six 3-pointers in Boyd Buchanan’s 72-39 rout of Signal Mountain on Friday at Chattanooga State, where the tourney’s eight boys’ teams began working their way through the bracket after a quartet of girls’ games started the day. Junior Asa Fortune also hit a trio of treys and also had just as many dunks, while senior Caleb Hardaway added three slams as well to help build a 47-19 halftime lead.
Jones was lethal from the left corner as he came within one long-range make of matching his career high for 3-pointers in a game, and the pure shooter has scored 57 points and made 15 3-pointers over his past three games as a part of a five-win streak for Boyd Buchanan (10-7).
“Hudson is a competitor,” Hoppe said of Jones, who made five 3s in the Bucs’ 79-44 home win over Tyner on Dec. 9. “He loves to compete and is at his best in big moments. I have watched him make a lot of shots in practice and in games. When he is feeling it, there is not a better shooter in Chattanooga.”