STANLY COUNTY — With the last week of the high school basketball team approaching, two boys’ teams in Stanly County now find themselves battling it out near the top of the Yadkin Valley Conference standings.
The North Stanly Comets (17-2, 5-1 YVC) and South Stanly Rebel Bulls (13-7, 5-2 YVC) have a combined 10-3 record in conference play and currently sit at second and third, respectively, in the YVC behind the first-place Mount Pleasant Tigers (12-8, 6-1 YVC).
The next stretch of play will likely determine whether one of these two Stanly teams can surmount the Tigers in the closing stretch to win the YVC regular season championship.
Over in New London, the Comets have put together one of their strongest seasons in years, going 12-1 in nonconference play to start out their 2024-25 campaign before winning five of their six conference matchups.
North’s only YVC loss thus far has been a 66-57 home loss to Jan. 17, proving to be a costly defeat as Mount Pleasant now holds a narrow lead over the Comets in the standings; the two teams are set to meet again on Friday on the Tigers’ home court.
Prior to that, however, the Comets and Bulls were scheduled to face off on Tuesday night in Norwood, with the Bulls hoping to avenge their 64-45 road loss to North back on Jan. 14.
The Comets will round out their regular season with Gray Stone (3-12, 0-6 YVC) on Feb. 10, followed by Albemarle (1-17, 1-6 YVC) on Feb. 11 and Anson (13-6, 5-3 Rocky River) on Feb. 13.
For the Bulls, their season has taken a step in the right direction after a rough stretch in late November and early December where the squad lost five out of eight games. As the reigning YVC champion, South has now won eight of its last 10 games, and those two losses came at the hands of North and Mount Pleasant.
South will now hope to win its final three games of the season and cross its fingers that both the Comets and Tigers suffer missteps in this closing chapter of the regular season; the team squared off with North this week before taking on Union Academy (11-6, 3-4 YVC) on Friday and Gray Stone on Feb. 11.
Sitting at first place in the YVC standings, Mount Pleasant will now look to hold off the Comets and Bulls as the Tigers match up with Albemarle, North Stanly, and Union Academy in their final week of the regular season.