Basketball Recap: Watauga Snags 11th Victory in Last 12 Games

It can be hard to translate regular season success to the playoffs, but Watauga had no problem doing just that on Friday. They narrowly escaped with a victory as the squad sidled past the Mount Tabor Spartans 80-77. The win was all the more spectacular given the Pioneers' disadvantage in MaxPreps' North Carolina basketball rankings (they are ranked 107th, while the Spartans are ranked 15th).

Josiah Railey

Points (Career)

02/28/25 vs Mount Tabor	27
12/28/23 vs Johnson County	25
12/08/23 @ Mountain Heritage	24
02/18/25 vs Alexander Central	23
01/23/24 @ Freedom	23

Multiple players turned in solid performances to lead Watauga to victory, but perhaps none more so than Josiah Railey, who shot 59% from the field to rack up 27 points and five rebounds. The dominant performance gave Railey a new career-high in points. The team also got some help courtesy of Cade Keller, who went 8-for-15 en route to 25 points.

Watauga has been performing incredibly well recently as they've won 11 of their last 12 matchups. That's provided a nice bump to their 20-7 record this season. Mount Tabor moved to 23-6 with that loss, which also ended their four-game winning streak.

Coming up, Watauga will square off against West Forsyth at 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday. Both teams are headed into the matchup with plenty of momentum (West Forsyth has won 13 straight at home, while Watauga won four straight on the road), something that'll have to change. Mount Tabor does not have any more games scheduled as of now.