Basketball Recap: Pine Forest Skates Past Western Harnett with Ease

Pine Forest won the last time they faced Western Harnett and things went their way on Wednesday too. The Pine Forest Trojans took their matchup with ease, bagging a 78-40 win over the Western Harnett Eagles. Given the Trojans' advantage in MaxPreps' North Carolina basketball rankings (they are ranked 222nd, while the Eagles are ranked 607th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.

Pine Forest's victory was a true team effort, with many players turning in solid performances. Perhaps the best among them was Christian Baynes, who almost dropped a double-double on 24 points and nine boards. The dominant performance gave Baynes a new career-high in points. The team also got some help courtesy of Angelo Jones, who dropped a double-double on 18 points and 13 rebounds.

Pine Forest has been performing incredibly well recently as they've won six of their last seven contests, which provided a nice bump to their 12-7 record this season. Those victories came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 68.4 points per game. As for Western Harnett, they are on a 43-game losing streak (dating back to last season) that has dropped them down to 0-18.

Pine Forest will square off against E.E. Smith at 8:30 p.m. on Friday. One thing working in Pine Forest's favor is that they have posted at least 55 points in their last seven games. As for Western Harnett, it'll be a Battle of the Birds when the Western Harnett Eagles duke it out with the Triton Hawks at 7:30 p.m. on Friday. One thing working in Triton's favor is that they have posted at least 55 points in their last eight matches.