Basketball Game Preview: Lumberton Pirates vs. Seventy-First Falcons

Lumberton is 2-8 against Seventy-First since February of 2022 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Friday. The Lumberton Pirates will face off against the Seventy-First Falcons at 6:00 p.m. Both squads will be entering this one on the heels of a big victory.

Seventy-First will be up against a hot Lumberton team: the squad just extended their winning streak to four. Lumberton blew past South View 80-58 on Tuesday. The Pirates pushed the score to 65-45 by the end of the third, a deficit the Tigers had little chance of recovering from.

Jaiden Shephard

Rebounds

02/18/25 vs South View	14
02/17/25 vs Gray's Creek	10
02/14/25 @ Purnell Swett	25
02/13/25 @ Cape Fear	14
02/11/25 vs Seventy-First	12
+ 44 more games

Lumberton relied on the efforts of Christopher Hammonds, who dropped a double-double with 21 points and 15 boards, and Jaiden Shephard, who dropped a double-double with 19 points and 14 rebounds. Shephard is on a roll when it comes to rebounds, as he's now pulled down eight or more in each of the last 49 games he's played dating back to last season. The team also got some help courtesy of Nate Lawson, who posted 15 points.

Lumberton smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 15 offensive boards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now pulled down at least eight offensive rebounds in 11 consecutive matches.

Meanwhile, Seventy-First waltzed into their contest on Tuesday with ten straight wins... but they left with 11. Everything went their way against the Buccaneers as they made off with a 60-39 win. Given the Falcons' advantage in MaxPreps' North Carolina basketball rankings (they are ranked 98th, while the Buccaneers are ranked 361st), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.

Seventy-First pushed their record up to 19-3 with the victory, which was their sixth straight at home. The wins came thanks in part to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 71.0 points over those games. As for Lumberton, their record now sits at 22-4.

Lumberton came up short against Seventy-First in their previous meeting last Tuesday, falling 75-66. Can Lumberton avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.