After a string of three wins, the Kings Mountain Mountaineers's good fortune finally ran out on Wednesday. They fell 72-60 to Weddington. While losing is never fun, Kings Mountain can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' North Carolina basketball rankings (they are ranked 53rd, while Weddington is ranked seventh).
Despite the defeat, Kings Mountain saw an underclassman step up: Caleb Nixon scored 21 points along with seven rebounds. The matchup was Nixon's eighth in a row with at least ten points. Another player making a difference was Tucker Robinette, who scored 14 points along with three steals.
Even though they lost, Kings Mountain were smashing the offensive glass and finished the game with 14 offensive rebounds. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as Weddington only pulled down six offensive rebounds.
KJ Younger was his usual excellent self, scoring 24 points along with seven rebounds and three steals for Weddington. The match was Younger's 13th in a row with at least ten points. Grant Hamilton was another key contributor, scoring 19 points along with six rebounds.
Kings Mountain's defeat dropped their record down to 7-3. As for Weddington, they pushed their record up to 12-1 with that win, which was their fourth straight at home dating back to last season.
Both teams will have to hit the road in their upcoming games. Kings Mountain will square off against Huss at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday. Weddington won't have much time to rest: their next matchup is against East Mecklenburg at 7:30 p.m. on January 4th. Hopefully East Mecklenburg focused on turnovers this week since the team gave up 17 last Saturday.
