Basketball Game Preview: East Lincoln Mustangs vs. North Iredell Raiders

East Lincoln has gone 7-2 against North Iredell recently and they'll look to pad the win column further on Tuesday. The East Lincoln Mustangs will head out to challenge the North Iredell Raiders at 7:30 p.m. One thing working in East Lincoln's favor is that they have posted at least 55 points in their last five matches.

East Lincoln is headed into the contest after thoroughly thrashing St. Stephens: they outscored them in every quarter. Given that consistent dominance, it should come as no surprise that East Lincoln blew St. Stephens out of the water with an 81-53 final score. The Mustangs haven't had any issues with the Indians recently, as the game was their eighth consecutive victory against them.

Christian Atkins

Steals

02/07/25 vs St. Stephens	2
02/04/25 vs Foard	4
01/31/25 @ West Iredell	3

East Lincoln's win was a true team effort, with many players turning in solid performances. Perhaps the best among them was Christian Atkins, who went 8 of 11 to rack up 21 points and six assists. Atkins is also on a roll when it comes to steals, as he's now grabbed two or more in the last three games he's played. Another player making a difference was Jaxon Dollar, who almost dropped a double-double on ten rebounds and nine assists.

Atkins wasn't the only one working in the assist department: East Lincoln was working as a unit and finished the game with 28 assists.they racked up 18 more assists than St. Stephens' almost as impressive total of ten

Meanwhile, North Iredell was not able to break out of their rough patch on Friday as the team picked up their third straight loss. They lost 95-69 to Statesville. While losing is never fun, the Raiders can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' North Carolina basketball rankings (they are ranked 445th, while the Greyhounds are ranked 162nd).

East Lincoln pushed their record up to 16-6 with the victory, which was their third straight at home. Those victories came thanks in part to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 77.3 points over those games. As for North Iredell, their defeat dropped their record down to 7-15.

Everything came up roses for East Lincoln against North Iredell when the teams last played back in January, as the squad secured a 78-35 win. The rematch might be a little tougher for East Lincoln since the team won't have the home-court advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.