Hickory skates past North Lincoln with ease

By Team Reports Feb 1, 2024, 12:56am

Recap: Hickory Red Tornadoes vs. North Lincoln Knights

The Hickory Red Tornadoes put another one in the bag on Tuesday to keep their perfect season alive. They claimed a resounding 88-58 victory over North Lincoln at home. Hickory has made a habit of sweeping their opponents off the court, having now won 11 matchups by 21 points or more this season.

Hickory can attribute much of their success to John Holbrook, who scored 21 points. The team also got some help courtesy of Izaiah Littlejohn, who scored 12 points.

When it comes to explaining why North Lincoln lost, one person who can't be blamed is Ty Sanders. Despite the final result, he scored nine points along with seven assists and two steals. Tanner Lineberger was another key contributor, scoring ten points.

Hickory's win was their seventh straight at home, which pushed their record up to 19-0. Those good results were due in large part to their offensive dominance across that stretch, as they averaged 83.1 points per game. As for North Lincoln, their defeat ended a four-game streak of away wins and brought them to 15-4.

Hickory will be playing in front of their home fans against the Indians at 7:30 p.m. on Friday. St. Stephens knows how to get points on the board -- the team has finished with flashy point totals in its past seven matches -- so hopefully the Red Tornadoes likes a good challenge. As for North Lincoln, they will head out on the road to face off against the Raiders at 7:30 p.m. on Friday. North Iredell will have to bring their A-game into this one, as they are staring down a pretty big deficit in the MaxPreps North Carolina Rankings (they are ranked 356th, while the Knights are ranked 54th).