Basketball Game Preview: Wake Prep Academy Guardians vs. NCSSM: Durham Unicorns

The Wake Prep Academy Guardians will take on the NCSSM: Durham Unicorns at 6:30 p.m. on Friday. Both teams are coming into the contest red-hot, with Wake Prep Academy sitting on 17 straight wins and NCSSM: Durham on five.

Wake Prep Academy will head into Tuesday's matchup hoping to keep the good times rolling: they proved they can win big on Friday (they won by 21) and on Tuesday they proved they can win the close ones too. They had just enough and edged Falls Lake out 49-47. Given the Guardians' advantage in MaxPreps' North Carolina basketball rankings (they are ranked 203rd, while the Firebirds are ranked 573rd), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.

Wake Prep Academy found their leader in sophomore Shawn Amadike, who went 6 for 10 on his way to 17 points and three steals. Jermiah Hargrove was another key player, putting up four points and five rebounds.

Wake Prep Academy smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with ten offensive boards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now pulled down at least ten offensive rebounds in five consecutive games.

Meanwhile, NCSSM: Durham earned a 63-50 victory over East Wake Academy on Tuesday. The Unicorns pushed the score to 49-23 by the end of the third, a deficit the Eagles cut but never quite recovered from.

Wake Prep Academy's win was their ninth straight on the road, which pushed their record up to 20-2. As for NCSSM: Durham, their victory ended a three-game drought on the road and puts them at 12-7.

Wake Prep Academy came up short against NCSSM: Durham when the teams last played back in December of 2024, falling 60-56. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of NCSSM: Durham's Ethann Burkett, who went 9 of 14 en route to 24 points. Now that Wake Prep Academy knows the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? Check MaxPreps.com after the match to find out.