Month: January 2020

Entering Tuesday night, Cedar Ridge coaches, players and fans had done a lot of waiting.

Red Wolves Coach Jaison Brooks was just itching to play a game.

It had been 21 days since his Cedar Ridge Red Wolves had taken the floor in a 70-42 loss to Northwood in Pittsboro.

For Cedar Ridge players, they just wanted to beat an Orange team that, just three weeks ago, was 7-1.

Many of them had struggled through a 1-23 season last year. And the year before that, they were 4-20.

None of the Cedar Ridge players were in high school the last time the Red Wolves won at Orange. On January 20, 2015, Payton Pappas hit a 15-footer with one second remaining to give the Red Wolves a 63-61 victory over the Panthers.

They aren’t waiting anymore.

Cedar Ridge outscored Orange 27-10 in the fourth quarter, shooting 11-of-13 from the field in the final eight minutes, to topple Orange 66-55 at a packed Panther Gymnasium on Tuesday night. Mekai Collins, who led Orange in scoring last season, paced the Red Wolves with 29 points.

Cedar Ridge (3-8, 1-2 in the Big 8 Conference) ended a 24-game Big 8 Conference losing streak. The last time the Red Wolves won a Big 8 Conference game, it was January 26, 2017, when they defeated Orange 55-38 at Red Wolves Gymnasium. That was also Cedar Ridge’s last victory over its crosstown rivals before Tuesday.

Jerec Thompson had 13 points to lead Orange, who dropped its fifth straight game. The Panthers played without guard Jason Franklin, who missed his third straight game with a bad back. It was also their second game without senior center Machai Holt, who was dismissed from the team for disciplinary reasons on Friday.

Holt watched from Orange’s student section Tuesday night.

Orange took a 37-24 lead with 6:02 remaining in the third quarter after a 3-pointer from junior Kendrell Brooks. The Panthers, who lived by the three-pointer in the opening two months, missed their next 12 shots from beyond the arc.

Cedar Ridge ended the game on a 42-19 run in the final 14 minutes. Collins scored 21 points in the second half against his old team.

“We got down because we missed some shots,” said Cedar Ridge Coach Jaison Brooks. “We had some bad defensive possessions. We knew if we could fix those things, we could get back into the game. The crew we put it did just that. They stepped in and stepped up the defensive intensity. They were able to knock down some shots.”

After Jared Wood drained a 15-foot jumper to put Orange ahead 47-43 early in the fourth quarter, the Red Wolves went on a 6-0 run to take its first lead since it was 5-4 in the opening minutes. After senior K.J. Barnes split two free throws, Collins took a skip pass from Cameron Harper and drained a 3-pointer to tie the game.

Collins found Derrick Smith, who played the final minutes with four fouls, off a transition basket to give the Red Wolves the lead 49-47. After Kyle Stanley and Brooks notched consecutive field goals to five Orange a 51-49 lead, Harper hit a driving lay-up to tie the game, then Collins drained a 3-pointer to put Cedar Ridge ahead for good.

In the final four minutes, Orange shot 1-for-8 from the field. Smith put a cherry on top of a very tasty ice cream sundae with a 3-pointer with 1:14, naturally off an assist from Collins.

In the fourth quarter, Cedar Ridge hit all nine of its shots from 2-point range. They were 2-of-4 from behind the arc.

“We got totally out of character in the fourth quarter,” said Orange coach Derryl Britt. “It was not mature basketball. We got frantic. I think as Cedar started to run and get back in the game, we started to press. Then we got away from playing team basketball. It became ‘Let me beat my guy.’ They didn’t do very well for us.”

Orange led 31-21 at halftime after Joey McMullin banked in a 3-pointer from 25-feet at the second quarter buzzer. It was McMullin’s only 3-pointer of the game. The Panthers shot 6-of-27 from outside the arc.

Cedar Ridge will travel to Granville Central on Wednesday night, then host Northern Durham on Friday.

Orange will host Northern Durham on Thursday, then welcome Chapel Hill to Hillsborough on Friday.

CEDAR RIDGE 66, ORANGE 55

CEDAR RIDGE–K.J. Barnes 12, Chris Tinnen 3, Cameron Harper 8, Derrick Smith 9, Grayson Ramos 3, James Ragland 1, Mekai Collins 29, Grady Ray 1.

ORANGE–Jerec Thompson 13, Kendrell Brooks 8, J.J. Thompson 2, Kyle Stanley 6, Joey McMullin 11, Tucker Miller 6, Jared Wood 7, Hunter Birch 2.

3-Pointers: Cedar Ridge 5 (Collins 3, Smith, Harper) Orange 6 (Je. Thompson 3, Brooks, Woods, McMullin)

FOULED OUT: Cedar Ridge-none. Orange (Miller, McMullin).

With competition mounting in a deep Big 8 Conference, the Orange women’s basketball team had no time for upset bids in its opening game against Cedar Ridge.

Last January, the Red Wolves shocked the Lady Panthers 44-37 at Red Wolves Gymnasium, an early conference loss that set Orange back in its futile attempt to catch Hillside for the Big 8 Championship.

On Tuesday night, Orange junior Jala Rainey scored Orange’s first 13 points–then didn’t score again. It was just as well as she received plenty of help in the final 24 minutes.

Guard Samantha George had a career-high ten points to push the Lady Panthers past the Red Wolves 61-34 at Panther Gymnasium. Freshman Erin Jordan-Cornell registered nine points and six rebounds as the Lady Panthers (8-3, 2-1 in the Big 8 Conference) won its fourth straight.

Nadia Oswald led the Red Wolves with 13 points, her fourth game in double figures this season. Senior Tori Dalehite returned to the lineup for the Red Wolves after suffering an injury to her right foot in November.

Orange sophomore Mary Moss Wirt missed her seventh straight game with an injured right leg suffered against Carrboro on December 12. Wirt, who averaged 4.1 points per game as a freshman, figured to carry a heavier offensive load this season after the graduation of leading scorers Ices Barnett and Lauren Cates from last season’s 19-7 squad.

Without her, Orange has relied on sophomore point guard Aaliyah Harris for points. Coach B.J. Condron also wants Jordan-Cornell’s 5-foot-11 frame to step to the forefront with Wirt’s status in question.

“We’ve been emphasizing that,” said Orange Coach B.J. Condron. “We feel like she does a good job of getting open, but we don’t do a good job of seeing her. Sometimes we force it when it’s not there. She does a good job of finishing down low.”

Catherine Coyle and Oswald scored consecutive field goals in the opening minutes to give Cedar Ridge a 4-2 lead, but Rainey’s 3-pointer off a feed from Harris put Orange ahead for good. The Lady Panthers finished the first quarter on a 16-5 run and led by double digits from that point forward.

It was among the deepest Orange’s efforts of the season. Of the ten players who suited up, eight scored. Freshman Katelyn Van Mater also had a career-high eight points. Junior Cheyenne Mann had six points, one short of her career-mark set against Bartlett Yancey on December 27.

As Orange prepares for Northern Durham on Thursday night, Condron is set to play without Wirt for the foreseeable future, if not the rest of the way.

“I think slowly, they’re getting used to it,” said Orange coach B.J. Condron. “The rotation changes and you have to go deeper into our bench. People are getting more comfortable playing.”

Cedar Ridge (1-10, 0-3) will travel to Granville Central on Wednesday night. Then they host Northern Durham on Friday night at Red Wolves Gymnasium.

After Orange’s trip to Northern, the Lady Panthers will host a Chapel Hill team that defeated Northwood on Tuesday night. The Tigers’ win created a six-way tie for first place in the loss column. Northwood is 3-1, while East Chapel Hill, Southern Durham, Orange and Chapel Hill are 2-1, while Vance County is 1-1.

ORANGE 61, CEDAR RIDGE 34

CEDAR RIDGE–Catherine Coyle 2, Nadia Oswald 13, Jacori Walton 5, Takia Nichols 4, Tori Dalehite 4, Phoenix Smith 6.

ORANGE–Aaliyah Harris 7, Jala Rainey 13, Jarmil Wingate 3, Erin Jordan-Cornell 9, Samantha George 10, Katelyn Van Mater 8, Brenna Mehl 6, Cheyenne Mann 5.

3-POINTERS: CEDAR RIDGE (Oswald). ORANGE 3 (Harris, Rainey 2)

FOULED OUT—Coyle, Walton, Lloyd.

The Orange women’s basketball team claimed its fourth straight victory on Tuesday night. The Lady Panthers defeated Cedar Ridge 61-34 at Panther Gymnasium. Sophomore Aaliyah Harris had seven points and seven assists. Her classmate, Jarmil Wingate, added six rebounds as Orange improved to 8-3 on the season. It was Orange’s seven straight game without star shooting guard Mary Moss Wirt, who was injured against Carrboro on December 12. Despite the loss of its best outside shooter, the Lady Panthers finished fifth in the Eastern Alamance Holiday Hoops Tournament on December 26-28 in Mebane, winning its final two games against Riverside and Bartlett Yancey. The Lady Panthers will journey to Northern Durham to face the Lady Knights on Thursday night at 7:30 at Poe Gymtorium.

For the first time since 2015, the Cedar Ridge men’s basketball team defeated Orange inside Panther Gym on Tuesday night. The Red Wolves fought back from 13 points down to defeat the Panthers 66-55. Mekai Collins, who played at Orange last season, led the Red Wolves with 29 points, including 20 in the second half. Collins added nine rebounds and five assists as the Red Wolves outscored the Panthers 27-10 in the fourth quarter. For Collins, it was especially sweet after he started at Cedar Ridge his first two seasons. Collins shot 10-of-17 from the field, including 3-of-5 from 3-pint range. The victory ended Cedar Ridge’s 24-game Big 8 Conference losing streak. It was its first win over a Big 8 opponent since January 26, 2018, when they defeated Orange 55-38 at Red Wolves Gymnasium.

Grace Andrews has won a state softball championship playing in near-100 degree temperatures at N.C. State’s Dail Field. She’s won conference championships in basketball while enjoying macaroni and cheese as her favorite meal.

After Friday night, she can confidently say she has a hockey mentality.

Andrews chipped her front tooth during a scramble for a loose ball against Vance County at a point in the game when Orange was struggling. Her uniform was bloody, and while she briefly left the game, there was no consideration about calling it a night.

Not with the Lady Panthers already shorthanded at it is.

Without guard Mary Moss Wirt, the Lady Panthers finished with a 29-4 run in the final eight minutes to defeat Vance County 60-45 in Hillsborough on Friday night.

Orange sophomore guard Aaliyah Harris scored 20 points, including nine in the fourth quarter. Harris also had a season-high eight assists, six steals and six rebounds. It was the third time this season that Harris had 20 points or more in a game.

The Lady Panthers trailed 41-31 going into the fourth quarter after Vance’s Yumyah Hargrove scored a lay-in off a chest pass from Nashiya Branch at the end of the third quarter. Branch led the Vipers (7-5, 1-1) with 17 points, but she didn’t score in the second half.

Orange (7-3) won its third straight game to even its Big 8 Conference mark to 1-1.

“Really happy with the all around scoring we had,” said Orange coach B.J. Condron. “Erin Jordan-Cornell battled all night. We finally found her more in the 4th. She scored all 9 of her points in the 4th quarter.”

Jordan-Cornell, a freshman, scored all nine of her points in the fourth quarter. Andrews, Jarmil Wingate, and Jala Rainey also added nine points. Wingate had a career-high 14 rebounds.

Wirt, who injured her knee in the second quarter of the Carrboro game on December 12, missed her sixth straight game. Her absence has left an already young Orange team without a scorer who played in all 26 games as a freshman last season.

“She’s probably our best shooter, one of our better ball handlers and decision makers, and a leader on the court,” Condron said. “Right now she’s doing a great job being a leader off the court and other players are having to step up.”

Trailing 41-31, Orange opened the fourth quarter with 14 consecutive points. Harris assisted on the opening field goal by Jordan-Cornell, then Harris scored on back-to-back field goals off assists by Andrews, including a 3-pointer. Freshman Katelyn Van Mater took a pass from Harris and drained a six-footer to give Orange the lead for good. Wingate sank a critical 3-pointer from the corner off a relocation pass from Jordan-Cornell to increase Orange’s lead to 48-43.

It was a peculiar game offensively. Orange started the game on a 8-0 run off field goals from Andrews, Harris and Jala Rianey. After building a 16-6 lead, the Lady Panthers didn’t score a field goal in the second quarter, and went over ten minutes without a buckets overall. Vance reeled off a 22-5 run to take a 28-21 lead to the locker room. Branch hit a 3-pointer in the final minute of the second quarter.

Orange will host Cedar Ridge on Tuesday night in Hillsborough. Tipoff will be at 6. It was be the second game of a triple header. The junior variety boys game tips off a 4:30.

Since reaching the 3A state quarterfinals in 2017, very little has gone according to plan for the Orange men’s basketball program.

After Connor Crabtree, possibly the best player in school history, graduated following Orange’s 23-7 season, the Panthers started rebuilding.

When most teams enter that phase, the formula is the same. They take their lumps early and hope the dues they pay then will be rewarded years down the line.

Before Christmas, that appeared to be how this season was shaping up. Orange was 7-1, it’s best start in 14 years. They dominated established programs like Granville Central and Walter Williams, then blew out East Chapel Hill in its Big 8 Conference opener by 50.

Just when it appeared Orange was ready to step back into the spotlight again, they had a disappointing eighth-place finish in the Navy Bracket of the South Granville Holiday Tournament last week. It was the polar opposite of what many Orange players, coaches and fans expected.

Coach Derryl Britt planned to regroup with a good week of practice to prepare for a road trip to Vance County, who also had a lackluster tournament in Creedmoor.

Instead, the Panthers have lost its most influential player and, as a result, didn’t look competitive on Friday night.

Britt confirmed that senior forward Machai Holt is no longer on the team due to disciplinary reasons. Holt’s ubiquitous presence on the floor is certainly no secret to Britt or anyone else with a fraction of a basketball IQ that’s seen Orange play.

Holt created shots off the dribble with his slashing ability, setting up open looks for teammates Joey McMullin, Jerec Thompson and Jason Franklin. He was the team’s best finisher. At 6-foot-2, he was Orange’s best rebounder and defensive player.

Perhaps most precious of all, Holt had built a familiarity with his fellow upperclassmen, who had all played together since 5th grade at Pathways Elementary School.

With school not in session this week in Hillsborough, many of the Orange players didn’t know about Holt’s departure until hours before tipoff on Friday. It showed on the floor. Orange looked befuddled and disorganized as Vance County led 28-3 at the end of the first quarter. Jared Wood, a reserve guard, scored Orange’s only points in the opening ten minutes.

The Vipers went on to win 74-57, playing mainly reserves in the final ten minutes after leading by as many as 33 points.

McMullin, Orange’s leading scorer, went without a point in the first half.

Franklin, still nursing a bad back, missed his second straight game. With center Hunter Birch out, Orange suited up only eight players.

“We can’t stop because we don’t have a player or two with us,” Britt said. “We were prepared to play this game. Unfortunately with the issues, I think the guys were faced with reality that he wasn’t with us.”

McMullin scored 21 points, all in the second half, to lead Orange. Jerec Thompson finished with 18. Kendrell Brooks scored eleven, including eight in the first half where he carried most of the offensive load.

Afterward, Britt reflected on how much Holt’s departure will hurt his team.

“It impacts the offense. It impacts the defense,” Britt said. “It effects how we play in transition. It effects everything. Machai was a big part of the team. He did a lot of things for us. Unfortunately, he’s no longer with us. We have to adjust.”

No one is ready to throw in the towel on anything regarding this season, especially with crosstown rival Cedar Ridge next on the schedule Tuesday, which starts a string of three games in four days.

“We played good basketball in the spring and summer without Machai and some other players,” Britt said. “We have to get back to playing good basketball, and we can. We came out in the second half and outplayed Vance County. But when you put yourself in a 25-point hole, that’s hard to dig out of. We can’t afford to give away these games because these are conference games.”

Vance County (9-3, 1-1 in the Big 8) was led by Ta’Quon Lyons with 14 points. Phadol Jones came off the bench to score 12, while center Thomas Townes added eleven.

Orange (7-5, 1-1) will host Cedar Ridge on Tuesday at Panther Gymnasium. It will be a tripleheader with the junior varsity boys tipping off at 4:30.