Pinecrest is 9-1 against Hoke County since February of 2019, and they'll have a chance to extend that success on Tuesday. The Pinecrest Patriots will head out on the road to square off against the Hoke County Bucks at 7:30 p.m. Pinecrest knows how to get points on the board -- the team has finished with flashy point totals in its past five matches -- so hopefully Hoke County likes a good challenge.
Even though Scotland scored an imposing 60 points on Friday, Pinecrest still came out on top. Pinecrest walked away with a 72-60 victory over Scotland. Given Pinecrest's advantage in MaxPreps' North Carolina basketball rankings (they are ranked 161st, while Scotland is ranked 376th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Pinecrest got their win on the backs of several key players, but it was Zymire Spencer out in front who scored 15 points along with five steals. Elijah Melton was another key contributor, dropping a double-double on 13 points and 14 rebounds.
Meanwhile, it may have taken overtime to finish the job, but Hoke County ultimately got the result they hoped for on Friday. They snuck past Union Pines with a 54-49 victory. The team ran away with 34 points in the first half and mostly just sat on those to pick up the win.
Pinecrest is on a roll lately: they've won four of their last five contests, which provided a massive bump to their 11-8 record this season. Hoke County's record is now 14-8.
Pinecrest came up short against Hoke County when the teams last played back in January, falling 54-50. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Hoke County's Jaylen Sturdivant, who scored 26 points along with two steals. Now that Pinecrest knows the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? There's only one way to find out.
