Preview: Hickory Red Tornadoes vs. Freedom Patriots
Hickory and Freedom are an even 5-5 against one another since January of 2019, but not for long. The Hickory Red Tornadoes will be home for the holidays to greet the Freedom Patriots at 7:30 p.m. on Friday. Hickory knows how to get points on the board -- the squad has finished with flashy point totals in its past five games -- so hopefully Freedom likes a good challenge.
Hickory scored the most points they've had all season to find success on Tuesday. They strolled past Newton-Conover with points to spare, taking the game 81-62. Given Hickory's advantage in MaxPreps' North Carolina basketball rankings (they are ranked 22nd, while Newton-Conover is ranked 213th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Hickory had a senior duo take command as Izaiah Littlejohn scored 18 points and John Holbrook scored 16 points. The matchup was Littlejohn's fifth in a row with at least ten points. The team also got some help courtesy of A'Von Wilfong, who scored nine points.
Meanwhile, Freedom pushed their score all the way to 56 on Tuesday, but even that wasn't enough to win. They fell 69-56 to A.C. Reynolds. Freedom has now taken an 'L' in back-to-back games.
Hickory's win bumped their record up to 5-0. As for Freedom, their defeat ended a five-game streak of away wins dating back to last season and brought them to 3-4.
Everything came up roses for Hickory against Freedom when the teams last played last Tuesday as the squad secured a 80-37 victory. With Hickory ahead 56-25 at the half, the match was all but over already.
