Basketball Game Preview: East Lincoln Mustangs vs. Hickory Red Tornadoes + Official Tickets

The East Lincoln Mustangs will challenge the Hickory Red Tornadoes at 7:30 p.m. on Friday. Both squads will be entering this one on the heels of a big victory.

Hickory will be up against a hot East Lincoln team: the squad just extended their winning streak to eight. The Mustangs simply couldn't be stopped on Tuesday as they easily beat Foard 77-32. With the Mustangs ahead 49-19 at the half, the game was all but over already.

Jaxon Dollar

Points

01/06/26 @ Foard	20
01/02/26 vs West Iredell	17
12/30/25 vs Lake Norman	29
12/29/25 vs SouthLake Christian Academy	23
12/27/25 vs Lake Norman	31
+ 7 more games

East Lincoln can attribute much of their success to Jaxon Dollar, who dropped a double-double with 20 points and 11 rebounds, and Christian Atkins, who went 7-for-10 en route to 22 points. Dollar's evening made it 12 games in a row in which he has scored at least 15 points. Gavin Heaberlin was another key player, shooting 67% from the field on his way to 14 points and five boards.

East Lincoln was working as a unit and finished the game with 22 assists. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now racked up at least 22 assists in four consecutive contests.

Meanwhile, Hickory was fully in charge on Tuesday, breezing past West Iredell 79-41. Given the Red Tornadoes' advantage in MaxPreps' North Carolina basketball rankings (they are ranked 64th, while the Warriors are ranked 484th) , the win wasn't entirely unexpected.

Hickory's win bumped their record up to 10-2. As for East Lincoln, their victory bumped their record up to 12-1.

East Lincoln came out on top in a nail-biter against Hickory in their previous matchup back in February of 2025, sneaking past 72-70. Will the Mustangs repeat their success, or do the Red Tornadoes have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.