Preview: White Oak Vikings vs. Topsail Pirates
The White Oak Vikings will be playing in front of their home fans against the Topsail Pirates at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday. White Oak knows how to get points on the board -- the team has finished with flashy point totals in its past three matches -- so hopefully Topsail likes a good challenge.
Winning is just a little bit easier when you work as a team to rack up nine more assists than your opponent, a fact White Oak proved on Tuesday. They simply couldn't be stopped as they easily beat Northside - Jacksonville 79-35 at home. Given White Oak's advantage in MaxPreps' North Carolina basketball rankings (they are ranked 34th, while Northside - Jacksonville is ranked 348th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
White Oak had a senior duo take command as Derrick Benbow jr scored 22 points and Kaemon Noel scored 19 points along with 6 rebounds. That makes it two consecutive games in which Benbow jr has scored at least 25% of White Oak's points. The team also got some help courtesy of Jamison Avila, who scored 9 points.
Meanwhile, Topsail was within striking distance but couldn't close the gap on Thursday as they fell 49-45 to East Bladen.
White Oak's win bumped their season record to 3-0 while Northside - Jacksonville's loss dropped theirs to 0-2.
Everything came up roses for White Oak against Topsail in their previous meeting back in November of 2022 as the squad secured a 67-33 victory. Will White Oak repeat their success, or does Topsail have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
