vs
| 02/13/24 - Home | 66-80 L |
| 01/30/24 - Away | 54-69 L |
| 02/14/23 - Home | 69-52 W |
| 02/09/23 - Home | 87-77 W |
| 01/20/23 - Away | 82-65 W |
| + 5 more games |
Richlands and Croatan are an even 5-5 against one another since February of 2020, but not for long. A feisty cat fight will be fought when the Wildcats challenge the Cougars at 8:00 p.m. on Tuesday. Richlands is coming into the contest on a six-game losing streak.
Richlands is likely headed into the matchup with a focus on the second half, which is when things went downhill against West Carteret on Friday. Richlands was just a bucket shy of victory and fell 57-56 to West Carteret. While losing is never fun, the Wildcats can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' North Carolina basketball rankings (they are ranked 440th, while the Patriots are ranked 209th).
Meanwhile, Croatan hadn't done well against White Oak recently (they were 0-9 in their previous nine matchups), but they didn't let the past get in their way on Friday. Croatan walked away with an 84-76 win over White Oak. The victory made it back-to-back wins for the Cougars.
Croatan's win came from a few key players Richlands will need to keep an eye on. One of the most notable was Trey Jones, who went 12 of 22 to rack up 37 points and six rebounds. That makes it three consecutive games in which he has scored at least a third of Croatan's points. Another player making a difference was Kannon McBride, who dropped a double-double on 16 points and 12 boards.
Croatan smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 11 offensive rebounds. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now pulled down at least nine offensive boards in four consecutive games.
Croatan's victory bumped their record up to 14-5. As for Richlands, their loss dropped their record down to 4-15.
Richlands ended up a good deal behind Croatan when the teams last played back in February of 2024, losing 80-66. Can Richlands avenge their defeat or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
