Basketball Game Preview: Lakewood Leopards vs. Hobbton Wildcats

The Lakewood Leopards will venture away from home to face off against the Hobbton Wildcats at 7:30 p.m. on Friday. Lakewood is coming into the matchup hot, having won their last 16 games.

Lakewood is headed into the game after thoroughly thrashing Neuse Charter: they outscored them in every quarter. Given that consistent dominance, it should come as no surprise that Lakewood blew Neuse Charter out of the water with an 81-54 final score. Given the Leopards' advantage in MaxPreps' North Carolina basketball rankings (they are ranked 220th, while the Cougars are ranked 524th), the result on Wednesday wasn't entirely unexpected.

It was another big night for Cameron Williams, who almost dropped a double-double on 24 points and nine boards. He is on a roll when it comes to rebounds, as he's now pulled down eight or more in the last seven games he's played. Another player making a difference was Xavier Hall, who dropped a double-double on ten points and 11 boards.

Meanwhile, Hobbton didn't have too much trouble with Rosewood on Wednesday as they won 70-56. The win made it back-to-back victories for the Wildcats.

Hobbton's win came from a few key players Lakewood will need to keep an eye on. One of the most notable was Deonte Darden, who posted 18 points. The dominant performance gave him a new career-high in points. Nashon Kilkenny was another key player, putting up 12 points.

Lakewood's victory was their sixth straight on the road, which pushed their record up to 16-1. Those victories came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 68.8 points per game. As for Hobbton, their win bumped their record up to 7-10.

Lakewood came out on top in a nail-biter against Hobbton when the teams last played last Monday, sneaking past 66-64. The rematch might be a little tougher for Lakewood since the squad won't have the home-court advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.