Basketball Recap: North Johnston's Losing Streak Is a Thing of the Past

North Johnston can bid farewell to their five-game losing streak thanks to their game on Tuesday. They snuck past the Princeton Bulldogs with a 48-44 victory. That result was just more of the same for these two, as the Panthers also won the last time the pair played back in February of 2024.

Leading North Johnston to victory were Kaleb Pone and Ben Cuddington. Pone went 7 of 16 en route to 22 points and six rebounds, while Cuddington went 6 for 11 on his way to 15 points and seven boards. That makes it seven consecutive games in which Pone has scored at least a third of North Johnston's points. Cameron Cuddington was another key player, putting up eight points.

North Johnston was working as a unit and finished the game with 12 assists. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as Princeton only racked up three assists.

Princeton lost despite a true team effort on offense, the best among them being Evan Pate, who dropped a double-double on 11 points and 16 boards. Those 11 points gave Pate a new career-high. The team also got some help courtesy of Garrett Lane, who posted 13 points.

North Johnston's win was their first in the conference, bumping their conference record up to 1-3 and their overall record up to 5-11. As for Princeton, they have been struggling recently as they've lost five of their last six games, which put a noticeable dent in their 6-11 record this season.

Both squads will have to hit the road in their upcoming games. North Johnston has already played their next match (against Beddingfield), but no score has been uploaded at the time of writing. Princeton will venture away from home to square off against Spring Creek at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday. Princeton is strutting in with some offensive muscle as they've averaged 52.1 points per game this season.