Middle Creek and Green Hope are an even 5-5 against one another since February of 2017, but not for long. The Middle Creek Mustangs will head out on the road to face off against the Green Hope Falcons at 8:00 p.m. on Friday. Middle Creek is strutting in with some offensive muscle as they've averaged 53.9 points per game this season.
Last Friday, Middle Creek was just a bucket shy of victory and fell 56-55 to Green Level. The Mustangs haven't had much luck with the Gators recently, as the team's come up short the last six times they've met.
| 01/17/25 vs Green Level | 19 |
| 01/07/25 @ Cary | 15 |
| 12/28/24 @ Lee County | 26 |
The loss doesn't tell the whole story though, as several players had good games. One of the most active was Yasir Hall, who posted 19 points and six rebounds. His evening made it three games in a row in which he has scored at least ten points. Another player making a difference was George Daniels, who had 11 points along with six assists and five boards.
Green Hope played in conference for the first time on Friday and they got just the result they we're looking for. They walked away with a 53-44 win over Apex. Given the Falcons' advantage in MaxPreps' North Carolina basketball rankings (they are ranked 201st, while the Cougars are ranked 437th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Green Hope's win came from a few key players Middle Creek will need to keep an eye on. One of the most notable was Ian Hazard, who went 6 for 10 on his way to 13 points and eight rebounds. The team also got some help courtesy of Kody Frey, who went 6 of 15 en route to 15 points and eight boards.
Green Hope now has a winning record of 8-7. As for Middle Creek, their loss dropped their record down to an identical 8-7.
Rebounding is likely to be a big factor in this contest: Middle Creek has been crashing the rebounds this season, having averaged 21.3 boards per game. However, it's not like Green Hope struggles in that department as they've been averaging 23.9 rebounds. With both teams battling to corral missed shots, we'll see if one team can grab an edge.
Middle Creek didn't have too much breathing room in their match against Green Hope in their previous meeting back in December of 2024, but they still walked away with a 62-58 victory. One of the biggest obstacles the team faced in that game was Frey, who went 7 for 16 on his way to 19 points and three steals. Now that he's got a second chance to win this matchup, will Middle Creek still be able to contain Frey? There's only one way to find out.
