The Newton-Conover Red Devils had already won three in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 6.3 points), and they went ahead and made it four on Friday. They walked away with a 72-62 victory over West Lincoln. Given Newton-Conover's advantage in MaxPreps' North Carolina basketball rankings (they are ranked 129th, while West Lincoln is ranked 513th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
It was another big night for Javier Lineberger, who scored 17 points along with five assists and five rebounds. He has been hot recently, having posted 15 or more points the last four times he's played. The team also got some help courtesy of Owen Cannon, who scored 14 points along with four steals.
West Lincoln lost despite a true team effort on the offense, the best among them being Mikalister Anderson, who scored 20 points along with eight rebounds and six assists. Anderson hasn't dropped below two steals for four straight games. Another player making a difference was Gideon Allen, who scored 21 points along with four steals.
Newton-Conover is on a roll lately: they've won six of their last seven contests, which provided a nice bump to their 9-5 record this season. As for West Lincoln, they have not been sharp recently, as they've lost nine of their last ten matchups, which put a noticeable dent in their 3-11 record this season.
Newton-Conover's road trip will continue as they head out to face Bandys at 8:00 p.m. on January 16th. Hopefully Bandys focused on turnovers this week since the team gave up 20 on Friday. As for West Lincoln, their homestand continues as they prepare to take on West Caldwell at 7:00 p.m. on January 16th. One thing working in West Caldwell's favor is that they have posted big point totals every time they've taken the court this season.
