The North Johnston Panthers and the Eastern Wayne Warriors will face off at 7:30 p.m. on January 26th without much rest after finishing up games yesterday. Keep an eye on the score for this one: both teams posted some lofty point totals in their previous games.
North Johnston scored the most points they've had all season to find success on Wednesday. Everything went their way against Franklin Academy as North Johnston made off with a 77-56 victory. North Johnston has made a habit of sweeping their opponents off the court, having now won six contests by 20 points or more this season.
It was another big night for Marcel Freeman, who scored 28 points along with seven steals. Freeman is absolutely dominating the point category: he's posted at least 15 every time he's taken the court this season. Another player making a difference was Cory Barnes, who scored 18 points.
Meanwhile, Eastern Wayne came up short against Beddingfield on Tuesday and fell 82-75. Despite running the score up even higher than they did in their last game on Monday (56), Eastern Wayne still had to take the loss.
North Johnston pushed their record up to 12-3 with that win, which was their eighth straight at home. As for Eastern Wayne, this is the second loss in a row for them and nudges their season record down to 8-8.
North Johnston was able to grind out a solid victory over Eastern Wayne when the teams last played back in February of 2023, winning 54-47. One of the biggest obstacles trying to stand in the way of that victory was Eastern Wayne's Alijah Brown, who scored 12 points along with six rebounds and five steals. Now that he won't be playing on Friday, will it be that much easier for North Johnston to walk away with another win? Check MaxPreps.com after the match to find out.
