There were be new faces about when the Cedar Ridge men’s and women’s basketball teams start their respective seasons this afternoon.
However, one former Red Wolf will mark his return to his old gymnasium after a year away.
Mekai Collins will start his senior season inside a Cedar Ridge uniform, the same way he began his career as a freshman playing varsity.
Collins spent his freshman and sophomore seasons at Cedar Ridge before he transferred to Orange last year. During a 10-15 season in 2018-19, Collins led the Panthers with 15.6 points and 4.2 assists per game.
Collins’ return to Cedar Ridge coincides with Jaison Brooks’ appointment as the new Red Wolves’ head coach. Brooks replaced Clay Jones, who left Cedar Ridge after six seasons last summer.
The Red Wolves went 1-23 last year, beating only Rockingham County in December.
Brooks, who previously served as an assistant coach at Southern Vance, will waste no time in putting the Red Wolves in motion. They will open with three games in four days this week, starting with tonight’s game against the North Carolina School of Science and Math inside Red Wolves Gymnasium. You can hear tonight’s game on Hillsboroughsports.com starting at 5:30 with the women’s game.
On Wednesday, Cedar Ridge travels to Carrboro, followed by a trip to Chatham Charter the following day.
“It’s a top heavy schedule, but I think we’ll be OK,” Brooks said. “We’ve been building towards this and life is full of lessons. So we’ll learn some good things and good lessons. We’re looking forward to it.”
Brooks steps into a Big 8 Conference that underwent major changes at the top. Hillside, the defending Big 8 Conference regular season and postseason champions, left the league to return to 4A. Southern Durham, the Big 8 runner up in 2018-19, lost head coach David Noel last month to the Capital City Go-Go of the NBA Gatorade League.
Replacing Noel was no other than Greg Motley, the most successful head coach in Orange High history.
There’s also the unknown in Vance County, led by longtime Northern Vance head coach Wilson Baskett. Last season as a 2A team, the Vipers tied Granville Central for the Northern Carolina 1A/2A regular season championship. They reached the quarterfinals of the 2A State Playoffs, where they lost to Farmville Central 85-75.
Brooks said he was encouraged with a scrimmage against Graham on Thursday.
“There was some good ball movement by our guards,” Brooks said. “There were some dunk attempts, which were awesome. They’re buying into the system and they’re buying into what we’re selling.”
After the conclusion of football season on November 8, K.J. Barnes, Zach Holmes and Jaikel Gibbs started practicing with the basketball team. Senior Braxton Mergenthal, a two-year varsity player, elected not to play basketball this year.
“K.J. has a spark on defense that we love,” Brooks said. “Him and Jaikel are strong defensively.”
Brooks won’t have a shortage of guards. In addition to Collins, junior Luke Pagnanelli and sophomore Cameron Harper return from last season.
“We have a bunch of guys who work hard,” Brooks said. “I think that’s the biggest thing that stands out is how everybody gives in practice. We have solid point guards that can help carry us. We have some good shooting guards, like Chris Tinnen, that will be a great role filler.”