Having just played yesterday, the New Hanover Wildcats will head out on the road to face off against the Independence Patriots at 6:30 p.m. on Saturday. The two teams are strolling into their matchups after big wins in their previous games.
Independence will be up against a hot New Hanover team: the squad just extended their winning streak to four. The Wildcats were the clear victors by a 76-50 margin over Hopewell on Friday. Given the Wildcats' advantage in MaxPreps' North Carolina basketball rankings (they are ranked tenth, while the Titans are ranked 199th) , the win wasn't entirely unexpected.
Meanwhile, you're bound to get a positive result if you outscore your opponent every quarter and that's exactly how it played out for Independence on Tuesday. They put the hurt on Palisades with a sharp 78-53 win. The contest was all but wrapped up at the end of the third, by which point the Patriots had established a 22-point advantage.
Independence's win came from a few key players New Hanover will need to keep an eye on. One of the most notable was Lusemo Macharia, who almost dropped a double-double with nine points and ten boards. What's more, he posted four assists, the most he's had since back in December of 2024. The team also got some help courtesy of Christan Jones, who went 7-for-14 to rack up 16 points.
Independence smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 15 offensive rebounds. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now pulled down at least eight offensive boards in five consecutive games.
New Hanover's record is now 5-1. As for Independence, their record now sits at 5-2.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
