The Central Cabarrus Vikings and the Charlotte Catholic Cougars will face off at 8:30 p.m. on December 29th without much rest after finishing up games yesterday. Both teams are coming into the game red-hot, with Central Cabarrus sitting on 42 straight victories dating back to last season and Charlotte Catholic on five.
Central Cabarrus has made a habit of sweeping their opponents off the court, having now won nine matchups by 21 points or more this season. They simply couldn't be stopped on Thursday as they easily beat Mount Pleasant 87-42 on the road. With Central Cabarrus ahead 63-22 at the half, the match was all but over already.
Multiple players turned in solid performances to lead Central Cabarrus to victory, but perhaps none more so than Desmond Kent Jr., who scored 16 points along with four steals. The match was Kent Jr.'s tenth in a row with at least ten points. Carson Daniel was another key contributor, scoring seven points along with seven assists and seven steals.
Meanwhile, Charlotte Catholic didn't have too much breathing room in their game against Concord on Thursday, but they still walked away with a 53-47 victory. Given Charlotte Catholic's advantage in MaxPreps' North Carolina basketball rankings (they are ranked 47th, while Concord is ranked 204th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Central Cabarrus' victory was their 13th straight on the road dating back to last season, which pushed their record up to 10-0. They've been dominating during the contests in that stretch too, as they've won by an average of 40.15 points. As for Charlotte Catholic, their win bumped their record up to 10-2.
Central Cabarrus didn't have too much breathing room in their game against Charlotte Catholic in their previous meeting back in December of 2022, but they still walked away with a 66-62 victory. One of the biggest obstacles trying to stand in the way of that victory was Charlotte Catholic's Patrick Tivnan, who scored 22 points along with five rebounds. Now that he won't be playing on Friday, will it be that much easier for Central Cabarrus to walk away with another win? There's only one way to find out.
