Basketball Game Preview: East Lincoln Mustangs vs. North Lincoln Knights

The East Lincoln Mustangs are taking a road trip to face off against the North Lincoln Knights at 7:30 p.m. on Friday. Both teams are coming into the contest red-hot, with East Lincoln sitting on three straight victories and North Lincoln on 11.

East Lincoln took a 43-point defeat the last time they faced off against North Iredell, but this time they managed to keep it close and that made all the difference. East Lincoln narrowly escaped with a win as the squad sidled past North Iredell 61-58. Given the Mustangs' advantage in MaxPreps' North Carolina basketball rankings (they are ranked 138th, while the Raiders are ranked 444th), the result on Tuesday wasn't entirely unexpected.

Meanwhile, North Lincoln strolled past West Iredell with points to spare on Tuesday, taking the game 87-71.

East Lincoln better focus on containing Kellen Karr and Ty Sanders as the pair were huge in North Lincoln's win. Karr dropped a double-double with 18 points and 15 boards, while Sanders went 9 of 14 to rack up 26 points in addition to seven rebounds and six assists. Karr's evening made it five games in a row in which he has scored at least 16 points. The team also got some help courtesy of Ben Heavner, who went 6 for 12 on his way to 14 points and seven boards.

North Lincoln was working as a unit and finished the game with 25 assists. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now posted at least 21 assists in four consecutive matchups.

East Lincoln's victory bumped their record up to 17-6. As for North Lincoln, they pushed their record up to 17-5 with the win, which was their sixth straight on the road.

East Lincoln suffered a grim 71-49 defeat to North Lincoln in their previous meeting back in January. Can East Lincoln avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.