Two dominant forwards in Kee'Donn Linney and Dylan Bradley are getting ready to go toe-to-toe. Having just played yesterday, the Kings Mountain Mountaineers will jump right back in to play the Gaston Day Spartans at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday. One thing working in Kings Mountain's favor is that they have posted at least 55 points every time they've taken the court this season.
Kings Mountain is headed into the contest after thoroughly thrashing East Rutherford: they outscored them in every quarter. Given that consistent dominance, it should come as no surprise that Kings Mountain blew East Rutherford out of the water with a 75-24 final score. Given the Mountaineers' advantage in MaxPreps' North Carolina basketball rankings (they are ranked 98th, while the Cavaliers are ranked 478th), the result on Friday wasn't entirely unexpected.
It was another big night for Linney, who went 6 of 14 on his way to 20 points along with six rebounds and five steals. The team also got some help courtesy of J'Myun Huskey, who posted eight points and seven rebounds.
Kings Mountain smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 17 offensive rebounds. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now pulled down at least nine offensive boards in eight consecutive matchups.
Meanwhile, Gaston Day waltzed into their game on Friday with two straight wins... but they left with three. Everything went their way against the Golden Lions as they made off with a 71-51 win. The Spartans have made a habit of sweeping their opponents off the court, having now won six contests by 20 points or more this season.
Kings Mountain better focus on containing Bradley and Braylen Todd as the pair were huge in Gaston Day's win. Bradley had 16 points, while Todd put up 17 points. Bradley is trending in the right direction considering he's improved his point production for three straight games. Griffen Simpson was another key player, putting up ten points.
Kings Mountain's victory was their fourth straight at home, which pushed their record up to 6-2. The wins came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 68.5 points per game. As for Gaston Day, they are on a roll lately: they've won nine of their last 11 matchups, which provided a nice bump to their 11-4 record this season.
Some high-performance offense is likely on the agenda as Kings Mountain and Gaston Day are some of the highest scoring teams in the league. Kings Mountain hasn't had any problem running up the score this season, having averaged 66.5 points per game. However, it's not like Gaston Day struggles in that department as they've been averaging 71.8 points. With both teams so easily able to put up points, the only question left is who can run the score up higher.
Kings Mountain beat Gaston Day 86-79 when the teams last played back in December of 2023. The rematch might be a little tougher for Kings Mountain since the squad won't have the home-court advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
