Preview: St. Stephens Indians vs. East Lincoln Mustangs
St. Stephens is 0-4 against East Lincoln since January of 2022 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Tuesday. The St. Stephens Indians on the road again and play against the East Lincoln Mustangs at 7:30 p.m. on January 16th. Hopefully St. Stephens focused on turnovers this week since the team gave up 11 on Friday.
St. Stephens lost a heartbreaker when they last took the court, but unfortunately for them the loss they were handed on on Friday was a bit more commanding. They ended up on the wrong side of a rough 85-62 walloping at the hands of North Lincoln. While losing is never fun, St. Stephens can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' North Carolina basketball rankings (they are ranked 263rd, while North Lincoln is ranked 51st).
Despite the loss, St. Stephens saw an underclassman step up: Noah VanBeurden scored 20 points along with six rebounds. Jonah Long was another key contributor, scoring 14 points along with five rebounds.
Meanwhile, East Lincoln can now show off four landslide victories after their most recent match on Friday. They put the hurt on Foard with a sharp 61-41 victory. The win was just what East Lincoln needed coming off of a 77-52 loss in their prior match.
East Lincoln's success was the result of a balanced attack that saw several players step up, but Jackson Fannon led the charge by scoring 20 points along with nine rebounds. The team also got some help courtesy of Davis Hill, who scored 16 points along with five rebounds.
St. Stephens bumped their record down to 7-6 with that loss, which was their fourth straight on the road. As for East Lincoln, they now have a winning record of 7-6.
This contest is one where the number of possessions is likely to be a big factor: St. Stephens have been smashing the glass this season, having only averaged 28.3 rebounds per game. It's a different story for East Lincoln, though, as they've been averaging only 32.8 rebounds per game. Given these competing strengths, it'll be interesting to see how their clash plays out.
St. Stephens suffered a grim 73-53 defeat to East Lincoln when the teams last played back in February of 2023. Can St. Stephens avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
