The Research Triangle Raptors will wrap up 2023 with a road trip to face off against the North Johnston Panthers at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday. Hopefully Research Triangle focused on turnovers this week since the team gave up 17 on December 8th.
Even though Excelsior Classical Academy scored an imposing 55 points, Research Triangle still came out on top. Research Triangle beat Excelsior Classical Academy by the very same score they won with last week: 68-55. The win made it back-to-back wins for Research Triangle.
Research Triangle's win was the result of several impressive offensive performances. One of the most notable came from Cade Wiggins, who scored 16 points along with nine rebounds and seven steals. Those nine rebounds set a new season-high mark for him. Another player making a difference was Zain Abdelbaky, who dropped a double-double on 21 points and ten rebounds.
Meanwhile, North Johnston suffered a tough 71-51 defeat at the hands of Southeast Raleigh on Thursday.
Marcel Freeman put forth a good effort for the losing side as he scored 30 points along with three steals. He scored a full 58.8% of North Johnston's points, the eighth time in a row he's earned more than a third of the team's points. Wyatt Hales was another key contributor, scoring ten points along with five assists and five rebounds.
Research Triangle's victory ended a five-game drought at home dating back to last season and bumped them up to 4-2. As for North Johnston, their loss dropped their record down to 7-2.
Research Triangle took a serious blow against North Johnston when the teams last played back in December of 2022, falling 73-32. The match was all but decided by halftime, at which point Research Triangle was down 46-19.
