Duke went to N.C. State last weekend with an unbeaten record and got tripped up.
Four area teams who have yet to lose in league play will try to avoid a similar fate tonight.
Kinston’s boys and girls teams and boys teams from North Lenoir and South Lenoir are each perfect in conference play and each one will be in action. The Vikings and Blue Devils host Greene Central and Croatan, respectively, while the Hawks travel to Clayton Cleveland.
North Lenoir (9-7, 4-0 Eastern Carolina 3A) is coming off an 83-73 win at Eastern Wayne on Friday.
The win put the Hawks into a tie for first with Erwin Triton (13-2, 4-0) in a league they have yet to finish better than fourth since moving up a classification in 2009.
North Lenoir, which is on a three-game winning streak, knows that anything can happen in conference play and isn’t letting Cleveland’s record of 4-11 overall, 1-3 in league play, factor into its preparation.
“This conference is tough, from top to bottom, especially on the road,” second-year Hawks coach Anthony Loftin said.
“This is a big week for us with two games on the road. To win this conference you have to show you can win on the road, and Cleveland is a tough place to play.”
Since becoming a member of the EC3A beginning with the 2009-10 school year, North Lenoir has made the state playoffs just once when it finished the regular season in fourth place in 2011 to earn the league’s final playoff berth.
This year, just making the playoffs isn’t the goal. The Hawks want to go out as conference champions.
“We have to play defense, don’t take none of this (success) to the head because we can be beat, and just stay focused,” junior guard Jauquaz Jones said.
“We want to win the conference.”
While North Lenoir is trying to win its 3A conference title for the first time, Kinston’s boys are vying for a seventh consecutive championship and the girls are looking to go back-to-back-to-back.
Up tonight for the Vikings is a Greene Central girls team that has made some noise this season after going winless a season ago.
Kinston (12-4, 5-0 Eastern Plains 2A), which won the title last season outright after finishing tied for first with Wilson Beddingfield in 2011, may be unbeaten in the conference, but the Rams (7-9, 3-1) hold second place all to themselves.
“We’re going to have to play smart,” Vikings coach Hubert Quinerly said. “(The Rams) have some good players and they like to get out and run. We’re going to have to be ready.”
South Lenoir’s boys hold the East Central 2A lead all to themselves and host a Croatan team that came within a win of advancing to the regionals last season.
The Cougars (12-2, 3-2) won their first 10 games of the season before being defeated by Jacksonville Northside and Clinton in consecutive games.
The Blue Devils (9-4, 5-0) are on a six-game win streak and haven’t lost since falling to North Lenoir on Dec. 14.
Kinston’s boys (12-2, 5-0), tied for second with Burlington Cummings in the latest NCPreps.com statewide 2A media poll, will face a Greene Central squad still searching for its first league win.
The Rams are 3-12 overall and have lost four in a row.
Ryan Herman can be reached at 252-559-1073 or Ryan.Herman@Kinston.com. Follow him on Twitter: @KFPSports.