Two dominant players in Elijah Melton and Tyson Thompson are getting ready to go toe-to-toe. The Pinecrest Patriots will head out on the road to face off against the St. Pauls Bulldogs at 4:00 p.m. on Friday. Both teams come into the contest bolstered by wins in their previous matches.
Pinecrest entered their tilt with Lumberton with two consecutive wins but they'll enter their next game with three. Pinecrest skirted past Lumberton 2-0. Despite the victory, that was the fewest points Pinecrest has scored all year.
Meanwhile, it may have taken overtime to finish the job, but St. Pauls ultimately got the result they hoped for on Wednesday. They secured a 46-42 W over Dillon. The victory was all the more spectacular given St. Pauls' disadvantage in MaxPreps's basketball rankings in their respective home states (they are ranked 316th in North Carolina, while Dillon is ranked 141st in South Carolina).
St. Pauls found their leader in underclassman Thompson, who dropped a double-double on 16 points and 12 rebounds. Those 12 rebounds set a new season-high mark for him. Another player making a difference was Theophilus (Theo) Setzer, who scored ten points along with eight rebounds.
Pinecrest is on a roll lately: they've won four of their last five games, which provided a nice bump to their 5-2 record this season. As for St. Pauls, the victory (which was their fourth in a row) raised their record to 5-2.
Everything came up roses for Pinecrest against St. Pauls when the teams last played back in December of 2021 as the team secured a 69-26 victory. With Pinecrest ahead 47-17 at the half, the game was all but over already.
