Preview: East Lincoln Mustangs vs. Lincolnton Wolves
East Lincoln is 10-0 against Lincolnton since January of 2019, and they'll have a chance to extend that success on Friday. The East Lincoln Mustangs will be playing at home against the Lincolnton Wolves at 7:30 p.m. Expect the scorekeeper to be kept busy: if their previous games are any indication, the two teams will really light up the scoreboard.
East Lincoln's and West Lincoln's contest last Tuesday was close at halftime, but East Lincoln turned on the heat in the second half with 51 points. East Lincoln breezed by West Lincoln at home to the tune of 81-52. Winning is a bit easier when you work as a team to rack up 15 more assists than your opponent, as East Lincoln did.
East Lincoln's win was the result of several impressive offensive performances. One of the most notable came from Jackson Fannon, who scored 26 points along with 9 rebounds. Riley Shropshire was another key contributor, scoring 17 points along with 8 steals.
Meanwhile, Lincolnton was able to grind out a solid win over Stuart W. Cramer on Tuesday, taking the game 58-48. The win made it back-to-back wins for Lincolnton.
Landen Lyerly and Junior "LJ" Smith were among the main playmakers for Lincolnton as the former dropped a triple-double on 15 points, 16 rebounds, and 10 blocks and the latter dropped a double-double on 29 points and 10 rebounds. That makes it two consecutive games in which Smith has scored at least 25% of Lincolnton's points. Another player making a difference was Khamoni Heath, who scored 6 points along with 5 rebounds.
East Lincoln's victory bumped their record up to 1-0. As for Lincolnton, their victory bumped their record up to 2-0.
East Lincoln was able to grind out a solid win over Lincolnton in their previous matchup back in December of 2022, winning 64-51. Will East Lincoln repeat their success, or does Lincolnton have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
