The Union Pines Vikings will head out on the road to face off against the South Johnston Trojans at 7:30 p.m. on Friday. Union Pines has been dominant on offense recently, as they've racked up an incredible 527 points over their last seven games.
Even though Gray's Creek scored an imposing 62 points on Tuesday, Union Pines still came out on top. Union Pines took their contest against Gray's Creek 74-62. Given Union Pines' advantage in MaxPreps' North Carolina basketball rankings (they are ranked 164th, while Gray's Creek is ranked 579th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Union Pines can attribute much of their success to Aiden Leonard, who scored 20 points along with 9 rebounds, and Trent Hilburn, who scored 23 points along with 8 rebounds and 3 steals. The contest was Hilburn's sixth in a row with at least ten points. The team also got some help courtesy of Jaylen Kyle, who scored 11 points along with 7 rebounds.
Meanwhile, South Johnston's recent rough patch got a bit rougher on Thursday after their third straight loss. They were just a bucket shy of victory and fell 60-59 to Midway. Having run the score up that high, both teams might be doing some extra defensive drills very soon.
Union Pines pushed their record up to 6-1 with that win, which was their third straight at home. Those victories were due in large part to their offensive dominance across that stretch, as they averaged 76.3 points per game. As for South Johnston, their loss dropped their record down to 1-3.
