NCSSM: Durham has won four straight games at home, while Franklin Academy has won four straight on the road, but those streaks won't matter much on Monday. The NCSSM: Durham Unicorns will host the Franklin Academy Patriots at 7:30 p.m. The two teams are sauntering into the matchup backed by comfortable wins in their prior games.
NCSSM: Durham is headed into the match after thoroughly thrashing Raleigh Charter: they outscored them in every quarter. Given that consistent dominance, it should come as no surprise that NCSSM: Durham blew Raleigh Charter out of the water with a 62-35 final score. The Unicorns pushed the score to 48-27 by the end of the third, a deficit the Phoenix had little chance of recovering from.
NCSSM: Durham's victory was a true team effort, with many players turning in solid performances. Perhaps the best among them was Chris Chen, who went 7 of 10 on his way to 17 points. The team also got some help courtesy of Jay Peng, who went 5 for 11 en route to 11 points along with six rebounds and three steals.
NCSSM: Durham smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 11 offensive rebounds. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now pulled down at least 11 offensive boards in three consecutive games.
Meanwhile, you can't lose the game if you win every quarter, and that was precisely Franklin Academy's strategy against Falls Lake on Tuesday. Given that consistent dominance, it should come as no surprise that Franklin Academy blew Falls Lake out of the water with a 69-28 final score. The Patriots have made a habit of sweeping their opponents off the court, having now won seven contests by 22 points or more this season.
NCSSM: Durham better focus on containing Hayes Lewis and Jaden Lewis as the pair were huge in Franklin Academy's win. Hayes went 7 of 10 on his way to 22 points and five boards, while Jaden went 7 for 11 en route to 17 points and three steals. The match was Hayes' third in a row with at least ten points. Micah Rutledge was another key player, putting up six points and seven rebounds.
Franklin Academy is on a roll lately: they've won seven of their last eight games, which provided a nice bump to their 15-6 record this season. The wins came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 65.8 points per game. As for NCSSM: Durham, their win bumped their record up to 10-7.
Some high-performance offense is likely on the agenda as NCSSM: Durham and Franklin Academy are some of the highest scoring teams in the league. NCSSM: Durham hasn't had any problem running up the score this season, having averaged 58.6 points per game. However, it's not like Franklin Academy struggles in that department as they've been averaging 62.8 points. With both teams so easily able to put up points, the only question left is who can run the score up higher.
NCSSM: Durham lost to Franklin Academy at home by a decisive 67-53 margin when the teams last played last Thursday. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Lewis, who went 15 of 19 on his way to 33 points and eight boards. Now that NCSSM: Durham knows the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? Check MaxPreps.com after the match to find out.
