The Sanderson Spartans are on the road again on Tuesday and plays the New Hanover Wildcats at 7:00 p.m. on March 5th. One thing working in Sanderson's favor is that they have posted big point totals in their last 11 matches.
It can be hard to translate regular season success to the playoffs, but Sanderson had no problem doing just that on Friday. They secured a 70-65 W over the Pirates. Having run the score up that high, both teams might be doing some extra defensive drills very soon.
Meanwhile, New Hanover put another one in the bag on Friday to keep their perfect season alive. They walked away with a 57-44 victory over Knightdale. Given New Hanover's advantage in MaxPreps' North Carolina basketball rankings (they are ranked eighth, while Knightdale is ranked 89th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Multiple players turned in solid performances to lead New Hanover to victory, but perhaps none more so than Reece Tushingham, who dropped a double-double on 14 points and 13 rebounds. It was the first time this season that Tushingham pulled down eight or more rebounds. Rodmik Allen was another key contributor, scoring 14 points along with six assists and five rebounds.
Sanderson has been performing incredibly well recently as they've won eight of their last nine matchups, which provided a nice bump to their 20-8 record this season. As for New Hanover, they pushed their record up to 29-0 with that victory, which was their 13th straight at home.
Things could have been worse for Sanderson, but things could have been a whole lot better as they took a 56-38 loss to New Hanover when the teams last played back in February of 2016. Can Sanderson avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
