The North Iredell Raiders will square off against the Statesville Greyhounds at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday. North Iredell is coming into the match on a six-game losing streak.
Last Thursday, North Iredell ended up a good deal behind Hickory and lost 73-59. While losing is never fun, the Raiders can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' North Carolina basketball rankings (they are ranked 505th, while the Red Tornadoes are ranked 57th).
West Iredell typically has all the answers at home, but on Thursday Statesville proved too difficult a challenge. They narrowly escaped with a win as the team sidled past the Warriors 78-76. The victory made it back-to-back wins for the Greyhounds.
Statesville's win came from a few key players North Iredell will need to keep an eye on. One of the most notable was Manuel (MJ) Gladden, who went 6 for 15 on his way to 18 points in addition to six boards and six steals. He has been hot for a while, having posted two or more steals the last ten times he's played. The team also got some help courtesy of Caleb Tillman, who went 7 of 11 on his way to 16 points and four steals.
Statesville's victory was their third straight on the road, which pushed their record up to 7-6. Those victories came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 76.0 points per game. As for North Iredell, their defeat dropped their record down to 4-10.
North Iredell came up short against Statesville when the teams last played back in February of 2024, falling 63-58. Can North Iredell 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
