Two dominant forwards in Dylan Bradley and Kee'Donn Linney are getting ready to go toe-to-toe. The Gaston Day Spartans and the Kings Mountain Mountaineers will face off at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday without much rest having both just played. Each of these teams will be fighting to keep a win streak alive as Gaston Day comes in on three and Kings Mountain on six.
Gaston Day saw some tournament action on Friday. They blew past Shelby 71-51. The Spartans have made a habit of sweeping their opponents off the court, having now won six matchups by 20 points or more this season.
| 11/17/23 @ SouthLake Christian Academy | 27 |
| 11/21/23 vs Cross Creek | 23 |
| 12/27/24 vs Shelby | 17 |
| 11/14/23 vs Hickory Christian Academy | 17 |
| 02/09/24 @ Concord Academy | 17 |
Gaston Day can attribute much of their success to Bradley, who posted 16 points, and Braylen Todd, who had 17 points. That's the most points Todd has posted since back in February. Another player making a difference was Griffen Simpson, who put up ten points.
Meanwhile, winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask Kings Mountain). They breezed by East Rutherford to the tune of 75-24 on Friday. With the Mountaineers ahead 54-14 at the half, the contest was all but over already.
Gaston Day better keep an eye on Linney. He was instrumental in Kings Mountain's win, going 6 of 14 on his way to 20 points in addition to six boards and five steals. The team also got some help courtesy of J'Myun Huskey, who posted eight points and seven rebounds.
Kings Mountain smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 17 offensive rebounds. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now pulled down at least nine offensive boards in eight consecutive games.
Kings Mountain's win was their fourth straight at home, which pushed their record up to 6-2. Those victories came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 68.5 points per game. As for Gaston Day, they are on a roll lately: they've won nine of their last 11 matches, which provided a nice bump to their 11-4 record this season.
Some high-performance offense is likely on the agenda as Gaston Day and Kings Mountain are some of the highest scoring teams in the league. Gaston Day hasn't had any problem running up the score this season, having averaged 71.8 points per game. However, it's not like Kings Mountain struggles in that department as they've been averaging 66.5 points. With both teams so easily able to put up points, the only question left is who can run the score up higher.
Gaston Day came up short against Kings Mountain when the teams last played back in December of 2023, falling 86-79. Can Gaston Day avenge their defeat or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
