Lincolnton is on a 11-game streak of home wins (dating back to last season), while Maiden is on a three-game streak of away wins: one of those streaks is about to end. The Lincolnton Wolves will host the Maiden Blue Devils at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Both squads will be entering this one on the heels of a big victory.
Lincolnton is headed in fresh off scoring the most points they have all season. They breezed by East Burke to the tune of 95-57 on Tuesday. Given the Wolves' advantage in MaxPreps' North Carolina basketball rankings (they are ranked 119th, while the Cavaliers are ranked 301st), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Lincolnton's success was spearheaded by the efforts of LJ Smith IV, who went 14 of 27 en route to 37 points along with eight boards and four steals, and Tyler McClain, who shot 4-for-7 from long range and dropped a double-double on 21 points and ten rebounds. That makes it six consecutive games in which Smith IV has scored at least a third of Lincolnton's points. The team also got some help courtesy of Nehemiah Thompson, who posted 13 points.
Lincolnton smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 14 offensive rebounds. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now pulled down at least eight offensive boards in seven consecutive games.
Meanwhile, everything went Maiden's way against Bandys on Wednesday as Maiden made off with a 94-70 win. The score at the end of the third wound up being the final score as the Blue Devils just coasted through the last quarter.
Maiden's victory bumped their record up to 12-2. As for Lincolnton, their win bumped their record up to 11-3.
Lincolnton didn't have too much breathing room in their match against Maiden in their previous meeting back in February of 2024, but they still walked away with a 48-44 victory. One of the biggest obstacles the team faced in that game was Maiden's Raheim Misher, who dropped a double-double on 21 points and 17 rebounds. Now that he's got a second chance to win this matchup, will Lincolnton still be able to contain Misher? There's only one way to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
