Even though the Lee County Yellow Jackets scored an imposing 58 points on Wednesday, the Pinecrest Patriots still came out on top. Pinecrest snuck past Lee County with a 62-58 victory. Given Pinecrest's advantage in MaxPreps' North Carolina basketball rankings (they are ranked 145th, while Lee County is ranked 421st), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Pinecrest was led to victory by Elijah Melton and Azir Gillespie. Melton scored 13 points along with nine rebounds and three steals, while Gillespie scored 14 points along with six rebounds and four steals. Melton is on a roll when it comes to rebounds, as he's now pulled down eight or more in the last three games he's played. Another player making a difference was London Ravenell, who scored six points along with eight rebounds.
Several Yellow Jackets players turned in solid performances, despite ultimately coming up short. Perhaps the best among those players was Kamaree Butler, who scored 24 points. Butler has been hot recently, having posted 15 or more points the last three times he's played. Nic Farrow was another key contributor, scoring 21 points along with five steals.
Lee County struggled to work together and finished the game with only three assists. They were crushed by their opponents in that department as Pinecrest posted 15 assists.
Pinecrest's win bumped their record up to 7-4. As for Lee County, their loss dropped their record down to 5-8.
Pinecrest will play host again and welcome Apex Friendship, where tip off is scheduled for 3:00 p.m. on Monday. Apex Friendship knows how to get points on the board -- the squad has finished with flashy point totals in its past seven games -- so hopefully Pinecrest likes a good challenge. Lee County will be staying on the road on Tuesday to face off against Richmond at 7:30 p.m. on January 16th. Richmond has been getting the ball to fall more lately as they've increased their point totals each of their last three games.
