Swansboro is on a 13-game streak of home wins, while First Flight is on a six-game streak of away wins: one of those streaks is about to end. The Swansboro Pirates will take on the First Flight Nighthawks at 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday. Swansboro has been dominant on offense recently, as they've racked up an incredible 2,022 points over their last 26 matches.
It can be hard to translate regular season success to the playoffs, but Swansboro had no problem doing just that on Friday. They sure made it a nail-biter, but they managed to escape with a 58-55 win over the Rampants. Given Swansboro's advantage in MaxPreps' North Carolina basketball rankings (they are ranked 32nd, while J.H. Rose is ranked 187th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Swansboro's win was a true team effort, with many players turning in solid performances. Perhaps the best among them was Tayvion Tangiora, who dropped a double-double on 17 points and 12 rebounds. Tangiora has been hot recently, having posted 16 or more points the last six times he's played. The team also got some help courtesy of Jermaine Cunningham, who scored ten points along with two steals.
Meanwhile, even though North Brunswick scored an imposing 61 points on Friday, First Flight still came out on top. First Flight took their game against North Brunswick 72-61.
Mason Dobie was his usual excellent self, scoring 41 points. That makes it three consecutive games in which he has scored at least a third of First Flight's points. Burke Powers was another key contributor, scoring 11 points.
Swansboro's victory bumped their record up to 27-1. As for First Flight, they are on a roll lately: they've won 13 of their last 14 contests, which provided a massive bump to their 18-10 record this season.
Keep an eye on the arc in Tuesday's game: Swansboro have been dynamite from deep this season, having made 48.8% of their threes per game. It's a different story for First Flight, though, as they've only nailed 22.6% of their threes this season. Given Swansboro's sizable advantage in that area, First Flight will need to find a way to close that gap.
Swansboro was able to grind out a solid win over First Flight in their previous matchup back in January, winning 67-60. Will Swansboro repeat their success, or does First Flight have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
