Whether its a date, a kiss or another of life’s pleasures, you never forget your first time.
Coach Jaison Brooks’ won’t forget his first home game against Orange. Not only because his Cedar Ridge Red Wolves defeated the Panthers 66-60 to complete its first regular season sweep of Orange since 2015.
With a spring in his step evident from the pregame warmups, Brooks appeared to be more eager for tipoff than his players.
“It’s a great rivalry,” Brooks said. “So to be able to participate in it is an awesome thing. The fans showed up tonight and it was a great environment.”
When its Cedar Ridge-Orange, there’s no need for a pregame speech that would make Ric Flair proud to get players ready to play. Despite a 27-point loss to Chapel Hill on Tuesday, Cedar Ridge emerged confident and vibrant right from the start. It was a 180-degree change from last season, when the Red Wolves labored through a 1-win campaign.
Of course, there’s another lesson that sank in for millions of basketball fans around the world this week. It’s called treasuring the moment.
Brooks, a Los Angeles Lakers fan, was one of many devastated by the death of Kobe Bryant on Sunday.
“We’ve all been thinking about Kobe’s death,” Brooks said. “We don’t know when our last day is going to come. We have to live each day to the fullest. So our mantra for tonight was ‘no regrets.’ By the end of the night, we wanted to say we played to our fullest capabilities, whether we won or lost.”
That made Friday night all the better for Chris Tinnen, Jai’Kel Gibbs, Zach Holmes, Andrew Altieri, K.J. Barnes, Grayson Ramon and Cameron Hartley, all of whom survived the 2018-2019 season to enjoy a senior night worth savoring.
The emotion of the packed Cedar Ridge student section knocked Orange back early. Orange only led for 14 seconds in the entire game after Joey McMullin scored on a stickback bucket with 3:18 remaining in the first quarter.
Then Gibbs entered the game. Barely off the bench, Gibbs hit three 3-pointer in less than two minutes to push the Red Wolves ahead 20-14 at the end of the first quarter.
“We know Jai’kel can shoot,” Brooks said. “Then he gets into the game and he shows it. We asked everybody to step up. We weren’t sure how much each player would play, but when they stepped out on the floor, they needed to do what they were supposed to do. Jai’kel did that tonight. We are super proud of them.”
Cedar Ridge (5-14, 3-7 in the Big 8 Conference) hit eight 3-pointers in the first half and led 37-23 at halftime. Mekai Collins, who played at Orange last season after spending two years at Cedar Ridge, scored ten points for the Red Wolves in the first half. He finished with 16.
Orange narrowed its deficit down to 43-39 midway through the third quarter after Kendrell Brooks scored seven points to open the stanza. Tinnen connected on three straight field goals, while Gibbs hit a critical three late in the quarter to keep Cedar Ridge from being challenged again.
Jason Franklin led all scorers with 24 points, while Joey McMullin added 20 for Orange. The Panthers (8-12, 2-8) have won only once since December 26.
Cedar Ridge will travel to Northern Durham on Tuesday. Orange faces Northwood in Pittsboro.
CEDAR RIDGE 66, ORANGE 60
ORANGE–Jerec Thompson 3, Jason Franklin 24, Joey McMullin 20, Kyle Stanley 4, Kandrell Brooks 9.
CEDAR RIDGE–K.J. Barnes 4, Chris Tinnen 21, Andrew Altieri 4, Mekai Collins 16, Zach Holmes 2, Ian Johnson 3, Jai’kel Gibbs 15, Grady Ray 1.