Basketball Game Preview: West Carteret Patriots vs. New Bern Bears

West Carteret is 9-1 against New Bern since November of 2017 and they'll have a chance to extend that success on Tuesday. The West Carteret Patriots will host the New Bern Bears at 2:00 p.m. Keep an eye on the score for this one: the two teams posted some lofty point totals in their previous games.

Last Friday, West Carteret came up short against Havelock and fell 72-63. While the Patriots didn't get the win, they did start the game off strong, beating the Rams 20-14 in the first quarter.

West Carteret might have lost, but man, Jay Murray was a machine: he dropped a double-double on 22 points and 13 boards. The dominant performance gave Murray a new career-high in rebounds. The team also got some help courtesy of Nehemiah Hester, who went 7 of 14 on his way to 16 points and eight rebounds.

Even though they lost, West Carteret 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 eight offensive boards in 20 consecutive matchups dating back to last season.

Meanwhile, New Bern waltzed into their game on Saturday with two straight wins... but they left with three. They walked away with a 67-59 win over the Warriors.

New Bern is on a roll lately: they've won five of their last six contests, which provided a nice bump to their 5-3 record this season. Those victories came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 64.3 points per game. As for West Carteret, their defeat dropped their record down to 5-2.

West Carteret came up short against New Bern in their previous meeting back in December of 2023, falling 72-59. Thankfully for West Carteret, Zymari Buck (who went 9 of 18 on his way to 25 points and seven rebounds) won't be suiting up this time. Will that be enough to change the final result? There's only one way to find out.