South Johnston has enjoyed a three-game homestand but will soon have to dust off their road jerseys. They will face off against the Smithfield-Selma Spartans at 7:15 p.m. on Friday. Both teams took a loss in their last game, so they'll have plenty of motivation to get the 'W'.
South Johnston suffered their closest defeat yet this season on Wednesday. They fell just short of Southern Wayne by a score of 64-61. Having run the score up that high, both teams might be doing some extra defensive drills very soon.
Meanwhile, Smithfield-Selma's recent rough patch got a bit rougher on Thursday after their seventh straight loss. They took a serious blow against East Wake, falling 79-40. While losing is never fun, Smithfield-Selma can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' North Carolina basketball rankings (they are ranked 573rd, while East Wake is ranked 176th).
South Johnston has traveled a rocky road recently, as they've lost four of their last five games, which put a noticeable dent in their 5-11 record this season. As for Smithfield-Selma, their defeat was their 19th straight on the road, which dropped their record down to 2-12.
Everything came up roses for South Johnston against Smithfield-Selma in their previous meeting on January 3rd as the squad secured a 67-39 win. One of the biggest obstacles the team faced in that game was Smithfield-Selma's Jacob Stewart, who scored 12 points along with eight rebounds and six blocks. Now that he's got a second chance to win this matchup, will South Johnston still be able to contain him? There's only one way to find out.
