Hickory has enjoyed a two-game homestand but will soon have to dust off their road jerseys. Having just played yesterday, they will head out on the road to face off against the East Lincoln Mustangs at 7:30 p.m. on January 26th. Expect the scorekeeper to be kept busy: if their previous games are any indication, the pair will really light up the scoreboard on Friday.
In what's become a running theme this season, Hickory gave their fans yet another huge victory on Thursday. They claimed a resounding 95-34 win over North Iredell at home. With Hickory ahead 42-16 at the half, the game was all but over already.
Hickory can attribute much of their success to Hunter Fisher, who scored 16 points, and Jamien Little, who scored 17 points. As a matter of fact, that's the most points Fisher has scored all season. The team also got some help courtesy of Izaiah Littlejohn, who scored 12 points.
Meanwhile, East Lincoln unfortunately witnessed the end of their four-game winning streak on Tuesday. They fell just short of North Lincoln by a score of 69-66. For those keeping track at home, that's the closest defeat East Lincoln has suffered yet this season.
The loss doesn't tell the whole story though, as several players had good games. One of the most active was Jackson Fannon, who dropped a double-double on 24 points and ten rebounds. He hasn't dropped below 15points for five straight games. Grant Lawless was another key contributor, scoring 18 points along with seven rebounds.
Hickory's victory was their sixth straight at home, which pushed their record up to 17-0. Those good results were due in large part to their offensive dominance across that stretch, as they averaged 82.3 points per game. As for East Lincoln, their defeat dropped their record down to 10-7.
Some high-performance offense is likely on the agenda as Hickory and East Lincoln are some of the highest scoring teams in the league. Hickory hasn't had any problem running up the score this season, having averaged 75.5 points per game. However, it's not like East Lincoln struggles in that department as they've been averaging 68.2 points per game. With both teams so easily able to put up points, the only question left is who can run the score up higher.
Hickory took their win against East Lincoln in their previous matchup on January 10th by a conclusive 77-52. The rematch might be a little tougher for Hickory since the team won't have the home-court advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
