Preview: St. Stephens Indians vs. Alexander Central Cougars
St. Stephens is 2-8 against Alexander Central since January of 2018 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Wednesday. Both teams will round out the year against one another at 1:30 p.m. at. St. Stephens will be strutting in after a victory while Alexander Central will be coming in after a loss.
St. Stephens scored the most points they've had all season to find success on Wednesday. They blew past West Iredell 81-58. Considering St. Stephens has won three games by more than 22 points this season, Wednesday's blowout was nothing new.
St. Stephens' success was the result of a balanced attack that saw several players step up, but Jonah Long led the charge by dropping a double-double on 14 points and 13 rebounds. Those 13 rebounds set a new season-high mark for him. Another player making a difference was Noah VanBeurden, who scored 12 points along with seven rebounds.
Meanwhile, things could have been worse for Alexander Central, but they could have been a whole lot better as they took a 68-50 loss to Davie on Tuesday. While losing is never fun, Alexander Central can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' North Carolina basketball rankings (they are ranked 246th, while Davie is ranked 27th).
Alexander Central's defeat shouldn't obscure the performances of Jayon Connor, who scored 19 points, and Carter Fortner who scored 15 points along with seven rebounds. The match was Connor's third in a row with at least ten points. Chad Lasher was another key contributor, scoring eight points along with seven rebounds.
St. Stephens pushed their record up to 5-3 with that win, which was their fifth straight at home dating back to last season. Those victories were due in large part to their offensive dominance across that stretch, as they averaged 64.4 points per game. As for Alexander Central, they now have a losing record at 5-6.
Some high-performance offense is likely on the agenda as St. Stephens and Alexander Central are some of the highest scoring teams in the league. St. Stephens hasn't had any problem running up the score this season, having only averaged 59.6 points per game. However, it's not like Alexander Central struggles in that department as they've been averaging only 55.9 points per game. With both teams so easily able to put up points, the only question left is who can run the score up higher.
St. Stephens came up short against Alexander Central when the teams last played back in December of 2022, falling 43-33. Can St. Stephens avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
