After two games on the road, Smoky Mountain is heading back home. They will finish 2023 at home by hosting the Robbinsville Black Knights at 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday. Smoky Mountain will have to bring their A-game into this one, as they are staring down a pretty big deficit in the MaxPreps North Carolina Rankings (they are ranked 602nd, while Robbinsville is ranked 185th).
Smoky Mountain managed to keep up with Asheville until halftime on Friday, but things quickly went downhill from there. Smoky Mountain was the victim of a rough 70-47 loss at the hands of Asheville.
The loss doesn't tell the whole story though, as several players had good games. One of the most active was Custer Prenger, who scored 15 points along with five rebounds. He scored a full 31.9% of Smoky Mountain's points, the third time in a row he's earned more than a third of the team's points. The team also got some help courtesy of Cameron Fowler, who scored five points along with six assists and four steals.
Meanwhile, Robbinsville put another one in the bag on Tuesday to keep their perfect season alive. They walked away with a 43-35 win over Andrews. Despite the victory, that was the fewest points Robbinsville has scored all season.
Smoky Mountain bumped their record down to 1-8 with that defeat, which was their 11th straight on the road dating back to last season. Those losses can't be blamed on the team's offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 57.4 points per game. As for Robbinsville, their victory bumped their record up to 6-0.
Smoky Mountain came up short against Robbinsville when the teams last played on December 7th, falling 63-57. Will Smoky Mountain have more luck at home instead of on the road? Come back here after the game to get analysis of the match and other basketball content.
