Basketball Game Preview: Pinecrest Patriots vs. Lumberton Pirates

The Pinecrest Patriots will take on the Lumberton Pirates in a holiday battle at at 8:00 p.m. on Saturday. Keep an eye on the score for this one: the two teams posted some lofty point totals in their previous games.

Pinecrest's tournament run continued when they took on Fairmont on Thursday. Pinecrest came out on top against Fairmont by a score of 57-49. The win made it back-to-back victories for the Patriots.

Meanwhile, winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask Lumberton). They breezed by St. Pauls to the tune of 88-28 on Thursday. The win was nothing new for the Pirates as they're now sitting on five straight.

Pinecrest better keep an eye on Jaiden Shephard. He was instrumental in Lumberton's win, dropping a double-double on 19 points and 11 boards. Shephard has been hot for a while, having posted eight or more rebounds the last 33 times he's played. The team also got some help courtesy of Lonnie Porter, who posted five points in addition to ten assists and three steals.

Lumberton smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 12 offensive boards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now pulled down at least ten offensive boards in five consecutive contests.

Pinecrest is on a roll lately: they've won six of their last seven matchups, which provided a nice bump to their 7-3 record this season. The wins came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 63.7 points per game. As for Lumberton, their victory was their third straight at home, which pushed their record up to 8-2.

Pinecrest beat Lumberton 68-59 in their previous meeting back in December of 2023. Will Pinecrest repeat their success, or does Lumberton have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.