North Gaston is 1-9 against Crest since February of 2020 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Tuesday. The North Gaston Wildcats will be playing in front of their home fans against the Crest Chargers at 7:30 p.m. North Gaston is out to stop a six-game streak of losses at home.
Last Friday, North Gaston came up short against Ashbrook and fell 66-54. While losing is never fun, North Gaston can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' North Carolina basketball rankings (they are ranked 498th, while Ashbrook is ranked 56th).
Despite their defeat, North Gaston saw several players rise to the challenge and make noteworthy plays. Markell Carothers, who scored 25 points along with five rebounds, was perhaps the best of all. Jurnee Lattimore was another key contributor, scoring 13 points along with six assists and five rebounds.
He wasn't the only one working in the assists department: North Gaston were working as a unit and finished the game with 15 assists. That's the most assists they've managed all season.
Meanwhile, Crest put the finishing touches on their seventh blowout victory of the season on Tuesday. They put the hurt on Stuart W. Cramer with a sharp 82-56 victory. Having run the score up that high, both teams probably have some extra defensive drills coming up.
Aj Adams was his usual excellent self, scoring 22 points along with five assists and two steals. He is on a roll when it comes to points, as he's now scored 16 or more in the last four games he's played. The team also got some help courtesy of Lyrik Pettis, who scored 12 points along with seven rebounds.
North Gaston has traveled a rocky road recently having lost ten of their last 11 matches, which put a noticeable dent in their 4-18 record this season. As for Crest, the win made it two in a row for them and bumps their season record up to 15-2.
Tuesday's game is shaping up to be a masterclass in shooting: North Gaston have been dynamite from deep this season, having made 37.4% of their threes per game. However, it's not like Crest struggles in that department as they've made 46.1% of their threes this season. Given these competing strengths, it'll be interesting to see how their clash plays out.
North Gaston was dealt a bruising 82-52 loss at the hands of Crest when the teams last played back in January. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Crest's King Rhodes, who dropped a double-double on 23 points and 12 rebounds. Now that North Gaston knows the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? Check MaxPreps.com after the match to find out.
