Preview: Northside - Pinetown Panthers vs. Jones Trojans
The Northside - Pinetown Panthers will be playing at home against the Jones Trojans at 5:30 p.m. on Friday. One thing working in Northside - Pinetown's favor is that they have posted big point totals in their last nine matchups.
Northside - Pinetown pushed their score all the way to 67 on Thursday, but even that wasn't enough to win. They took a 73-67 hit to the loss column at the hands of Pamlico County. Despite running the score up even higher than they did in their prior game on Tuesday (59), Northside - Pinetown still had to take the loss.
Northside - Pinetown's defeat shouldn't obscure the performances of Malachi Moore, who scored 19 points, and Griffin Johnson who scored 17 points along with five rebounds and four blocks. Johnson hasn't dropped below 15 points for four straight games. Tate Gibbs was another key contributor, almost dropping a double-double on 13 points and nine rebounds.
Meanwhile, Jones pushed their score all the way to 59 on Friday, but even that wasn't enough to win. They took a serious blow against Lejeune, falling 90-59. Jones was in a tough position after the first half, with the score already sitting at 40-10.
Northside - Pinetown's loss ended a three-game streak of wins at home and dropped them to 16-8. As for Jones, they have been struggling recently as they've lost five of their last six contests, which put a noticeable dent in their 11-13 record this season.
Everything went Northside - Pinetown's way against Jones in their previous meeting last Friday as Northside - Pinetown made off with a 70-49 victory. Will Northside - Pinetown repeat their success, or does Jones have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
