It was a good run, but the Franklin Academy Patriots unfortunately witnessed the end of their four-game winning streak on Wednesday. They were the victim of a tough 77-56 defeat at the hands of North Johnston. Franklin Academy has struggled against North Johnston recently, as their match on Wednesday was their fifth consecutive lost matchup.
Despite the defeat, Franklin Academy saw an underclassman step up: Hayes Lewis scored 21 points along with six rebounds. Lewis has been hot recently, having posted 15 or more points the last three times he's played. Another player making a difference was Tyler Pace, who scored ten points along with five assists and three steals.
It was another big night for Marcel Freeman, who scored 28 points along with seven steals for North Johnston. Freeman is absolutely dominating the point category: he's posted at least 15 every time he's taken the court this season. The team also got some help courtesy of Cory Barnes, who scored 18 points.
Franklin Academy's loss ended a four-game streak of away wins and brought them to 13-8. As for North Johnston, they pushed their record up to 12-3 with that win, which was their eighth straight at home.
Both squads will have to hit the road in their upcoming games. Franklin Academy will square off against Raleigh Charter at 7:30 p.m. on Friday. Raleigh Charter has now lost eight straight, and the team is hunting for their first win since December 5. As for North Johnston, North Johnston and Eastern Wayne will face off at 7:30 p.m. on January 26th without much rest after finishing up games yesterday. Eastern Wayne knows how to get points on the board -- the squad has finished with flashy point totals in its past seven games -- so hopefully North Johnston likes a good challenge.
