This season hasn't been kind to the Smoky Mountain Mustangs, who are still winless after their fifth game. They fell 82-69 to North Buncombe on Tuesday. The loss unfortunately continues a disappointing trend for Smoky Mountain in their matchups with North Buncombe: they've now lost three in a row.
Smoky Mountain's defeat came despite a true team effort from the offense, with many players turning in solid performances. Perhaps the best among them was Custer Prenger, who dropped a double-double on 18 points and 13 rebounds. Prenger scored a full 26.1% of Smoky Mountain's points, the second time in a row he's earned more than a third of the team's points. Cameron Fowler was another key contributor, scoring 15 points along with 3 steals.
Even though they lost, Smoky Mountain were working as a unit and finished the game with ten assists. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as North Buncombe only posted 19.
Leading North Buncombe to victory were Matthew Ledford and Trent Clark. Ledford scored 22 points along with 5 rebounds and 4 steals, while Clark scored 24 points along with 9 steals and 8 rebounds. That makes it two consecutive games in which Clark has scored at least 25% of North Buncombe's points. The team also got some help courtesy of Carson Brown, who scored 17 points.
The last time Smoky Mountain won on the road was back on Friday. Having now lost four straight away matches, they've bumped their record down to 0-5. That rough patch can't be blamed on the team's offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 62.8 points per game. As for North Buncombe, the win makes it two in a row for them and bumps their season record up to 4-2.
Both squads will have to hit the road in their upcoming games. Smoky Mountain will be staying on the road on Thursday to face off against Robbinsville at 8:00 p.m. on December 7th. As for North Buncombe, they will take on Mitchell at 7:30 p.m. on Friday.
