Basketball Recap: White Oak Proves Higher State Rank Is No Mistake

White Oak won the last time they faced Jacksonville and things went their way on Monday too. The White Oak Vikings managed a 67-61 win over the Jacksonville Cardinals. Given the Vikings' advantage in MaxPreps' North Carolina basketball rankings (they are ranked 77th, while the Cardinals are ranked 248th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.

White Oak had a senior duo take command as Jamison Avila went 6 of 11 on his way to 21 points and six rebounds and Trevor Highsmith dropped a double-double on 13 points and 11 rebounds. As a matter of fact, that's the most points Avila has scored all season. The team also got some help courtesy of Camron Myers, who almost dropped a double-double on nine points and 12 rebounds.

White Oak 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 11 offensive rebounds in five consecutive contests.

Jacksonville lost despite a true team effort on offense, the best among them being Ra-Shawn Echols, who dropped a double-double on 17 points and 11 rebounds. That's the most boards Echols has posted since back in January of 2024. Deondrea Gill was another key player, putting up 12 points along with seven steals and six boards.

White Oak is on a roll lately: they've won three of their last four matches, which provided a nice bump to their 8-4 record this season. As for Jacksonville, their record is now 2-5.

Coincidentally, both will both be playing West Carteret the next time they take the court. Jacksonville will head out to face West Carteret at 8:30 p.m. on January 6th, while White Oak will host them at 8:00 p.m. on January 10th.