The White Oak Vikings won the last time they faced the East Carteret Mariners, and things went their way on Wednesday too. White Oak enjoyed a cozy 62-45 win over East Carteret. Given White Oak's advantage in MaxPreps' North Carolina basketball rankings (they are ranked 95th, while East Carteret is ranked 253rd), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Leading White Oak to victory were Kaemon Noel and Derrick Benbow jr. Noel dropped a double-double on 17 points and 14 rebounds, while Benbow jr dropped a double-double on 20 points and ten rebounds. That's the first time this season that Benbow jr pulled down eight or more rebounds. Another player making a difference was Curtis Jackson, who scored 11 points.
When it comes to explaining why East Carteret lost, one person who can't be blamed is Shamel Baker. Despite the final result, he scored 15 points. Baker scored a full 33.3% of East Carteret's points, the 12th time in a row he's earned more than a third of the team's points. Jayedon Watson was another key contributor, scoring four points along with six rebounds.
East Carteret struggled to get the ball back on offense and finished the game with only four offensive rebounds. That's the fewest offensive rebounds they've managed all season.
White Oak pushed their record up to 10-3 with that victory, which was their seventh straight on the road dating back to last season. Those good results were due in large part to their offensive dominance across that stretch, as they averaged 69.9 points per game. As for East Carteret, this is the second loss in a row for them and nudges their season record down to 5-7.
White Oak will look to defend their home court on January 12th against West Carteret at 7:00 p.m. West Carteret has been dominant on offense recently, as they've racked up an incredible 203 points over their last three contests. As for East Carteret, they will head out on the road to face off against West Craven at 7:30 p.m. on Friday. West Craven has been dominant on offense recently, as they've racked up an incredible 355 points over their last six matchups.
