Basketball Recap: Lake Norman Takes Down Hopewell in a Playoff Battle

Wildcats

Margin (Wins)

12/02/24 vs West Rowan	47
02/11/25 vs South Iredell	44
11/19/24 vs North Lincoln	41
01/17/25 @ South Iredell	40
01/28/25 vs A.L. Brown	37

It's playoff time, and Lake Norman had no trouble coming through when it counted. Everything went their way against the Hopewell Titans on Friday as the Lake Norman Wildcats made off with an 85-63 victory. The Wildcats have made a habit of sweeping their opponents off the court, having now won 20 games by 21 points or more this season.

Lake Norman's success was the result of a balanced attack that saw several players step up, but Tre McKinnon led the charge by putting up 37 points in addition to eight rebounds and three steals. The dominant performance gave McKinnon a new career-high in points. Another player making a difference was Trent Steinour, who dropped a double-double with 21 points and 17 boards.

Lake Norman's win was their 19th straight at home dating back to last season, which pushed their record up to 27-1. They've dominated over that stretch too, winning by an average of 28.6 points. As for Hopewell, their loss ended a three-game streak of away wins and brought them to 20-8.

Looking ahead, Lake Norman will face off against Myers Park at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday. Lake Norman has given up an average of 55.2 points per game this season, so hopefully the team got some defensive drills in this week. Hopewell does not have any more games scheduled as of now.