The Hickory Red Tornadoes put another one in the bag on Wednesday to keep their perfect season alive. They walked away with an 84-71 victory over St. Stephens. Given Hickory's advantage in MaxPreps' North Carolina basketball rankings (they are ranked 17th, while St. Stephens is ranked 295th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Hickory's win was the result of several impressive offensive performances. One of the most notable came from Jamien Little, who scored 18 points. Little continues to roll, besting his previous point total in each of the last three games he's played. The team also got some help courtesy of John Holbrook, who scored 17 points.
St. Stephens' defeat came despite a true team effort from the offense, with many players turning in solid performances. Perhaps the best among them was Noah VanBeurden, who scored 19 points. Another player making a difference was Javian White, who scored 19 points along with five assists and two steals.
Hickory's victory was their 16th straight on the road dating back to last season, which pushed their record up to 14-0. As for St. Stephens, they are on a five-game losing streak that has dropped them down to 7-8.
Hickory will head out on the road to take on Foard at 8:00 p.m. on Friday. Foard is coming into the contest on a three-game losing streak. As for St. Stephens, St. Stephens and Statesville will face off at 7:30 p.m. on January 19th without much rest after finishing up games yesterday. Hopefully Statesville focused on turnovers this week since the team gave up 17 on Wednesday.
