Basketball Preview: New Hanover Wildcats vs. South Brunswick Cougars
New Hanover is 10-0 against the Cougars since February of 2019, and they'll have a chance to extend that success on Friday. The New Hanover Wildcats will head out on the road to take on the South Brunswick Cougars at 7:30 p.m. The teams are on pretty different trajectories at the moment (New Hanover has 19 straight wins, the Cougars have eight straight losses), but none of that matters once you're on the field.
New Hanover stacked a 14th blowout win onto their ever-increasing hoard on Tuesday. They blew past Topsail 65-23 at home. Given New Hanover's advantage in MaxPreps' North Carolina basketball rankings (they are ranked fifth, while the Pirates are ranked 373rd), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
New Hanover's win was the result of several impressive offensive performances. One of the most notable came from Zeus Batts, who scored nine points along with eight assists and five rebounds. It was the first time this season that Batts posted eight or more assists. Nolan Billings was another key contributor, scoring 11 points.
Meanwhile, South Brunswick lost to the Screaming Eagle on the road by a decisive 43-28 margin on Tuesday. South Brunswick has not had much luck with the Screaming Eagle recently, as the team's come up short the last four times they've met.
Despite the loss, South Brunswick saw an underclassman step up: Ziyon Smith scored 15 points.
New Hanover'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 68.7 points per game. As for South Brunswick, they have been struggling recently as they've lost 12 of their last 13 matches, which put a noticeable dent in their 3-16 record this season.
Everything came up roses for New Hanover against the Cougars when the teams last played back in December of 2023 as the squad secured a 73-30 victory. The rematch might be a little tougher for New Hanover since the squad won't have the home-court advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
