Story by Tim Hackett
A lot can change in a month. Fewer than four weeks after the Cedar Ridge men scored 22 straight points en route to a rout and the Cedar Ridge women saw a potential game-tying three at the buzzer slip barely offline in a split with Northern Durham in Hillsborough, a lot changed Tuesday night in Durham. Last time, the Cedar Ridge men never trailed, put together a third quarter for the ages and won by 25; this time, they trailed by 15 early on in the second and needed an all-time clutch shot by a red-hot shooter to fall in just to force overtime and eventually eke out a win. Last time, neither Cedar Ridge nor Northern ever led by more than five before one star Knight ultimately took over; this time, that star Knight shone again, and Cedar Ridge never got going. And ultimately, even though a lot of things changed, two things remained the same: the Cedar Ridge men won and the women lost, resulting in a doubleheader split for the second time this season.
The Cedar Ridge men’s team certainly looked a lot different Tuesday than it did last month. With Mekai Collins and KJ Barnes unavailable for the first quarter (the Cedar Ridge coaches later revealed they had been suspended for deciding to miss practice earlier in the week) and Derrick Smith and Grayson Ramos unavailable for the entirety of the game, the Red Wolves were down four frequent starters. They were soon down 10-0 before James Ragland finally got the visitors on the board with a three with 2:07 left in the first – Cedar Ridge did not score otherwise and Northern led 14-3 after one. Collins and Barnes, suspensions lifted with the situation dire, entered the fray but could only watch as the Knights stretched their lead out to 21-8 midway through the second. Then Northern head coach Ronnie Russell called a timeout to set his defense, but it had the opposite effect: Cedar Ridge reeled off the final nine points of the period to pull within four at the halftime break at 21-17 – with every point coming courtesy of Ragland and Collins until a late three-point spurt by Grady Ray provided some balance.
Cedar Ridge is a tough team to figure out. Rookie head coach Jaison Brooks features a 16-man roster when it’s fully stocked, and he frequently rolls out 12 or more guys in any given game. But it’s always a guessing game as to which of those guys will step into a starring role. Mekai Collins nearly always is up to the task, and he’s more than good enough to keep the Red Wolves in contention on many nights, but he can rarely ever do it himself. Last time out against Orange, Chris Tinnen and Jai’kel Gibbs answered the bell with career games; in this game, they combined for three points. Players like Barnes, Ian Johnson and Cameron Harper have had their moments this season; on this night, they combined for two points on a field goal in the final minutes by Barnes. The Red Wolves needed someone else.
Enter Andrew Altieri. The senior lefty sharpshooter can be a streaky scorer, but on this night he was simply scorching. He got the start with all of the team’s absences but couldn’t crack the scoreboard in the first half, but that all changed as soon as he hit Cedar Ridge’s first shot of the second half, his patented right-wing lefty three-pointer. And he wasn’t close to done. He hit two more wing threes for his team’s next two buckets to cut their deficit to two as he and Luke Pagnanelli combined for seven second-half threes to flip the script and get Cedar Ridge back in the game.
But Derrien Hicklen was getting hot on the other side: his deep right-wing three, part of a 13-point second-half outburst, capped an 8-0 Knight run to put them ahead 52-47 in the fourth with time running out. After Pagnanelli hit a three and Collins hit a two to make it 53-52, it seemed like any hope of a Cedar Ridge comeback was snuffed as Jaylen Lee sprung Anthony Freeman with an over-the-shoulder pass for an easy bucket with 20 seconds left and a three-point lead. But the sharpshooters delivered: Altieri set up Pagnanelli for an open right corner three to tie, but it sprung off the rim – into the waiting hands of Altieri, who took one peek at the scoreboard, shifted back into the left corner, stepped back for a fadeaway three over the outstretched arm of the much-taller Lee and straight in for the tie with less than ten seconds left. Cedar Ridge could’ve won at the last gasp of regulation, but Barnes missed a free throw, sending Cedar Ridge to overtime for the first time this year. From there, it was little surprise that it was Altieri who delivered another three – his sixth of the game – and two clutch free throws for a career-high 20 points to steer the Red Wolves (6-14, 4-7 Big 8) to a 67-63 overtime win over the Knights (4-17, 2-9) and keep their incredibly slim playoff hopes intact.
Caitlin Lloyd owns Northern Durham. Unfortunately, Maya Hood owns just about everybody. Fresh off a 22-point showing against the Red Wolves in Hillsborough last month, the star Knight sophomore gashed Cedar Ridge for 23 more on Tuesday to lead Northern (7-11, 3-8 Big 8) to a 41-31 victory over Cedar Ridge (1-19, 0-11 Big 8) in Durham.
It was frankly a disappointing start for the Red Wolves after they played so well for three quarters on Senior Night last week against Orange and, more importantly, after they played so well for four quarters against Northern last month – Hood’s 18 second half points and Phoenix Smith’s buzzer-beater than was centimeters offline were the only reasons Cedar Ridge failed to win three weeks ago. But this time around they couldn’t stop Hood early, couldn’t convert their offensive chances, and couldn’t dig out of an early deficit. Cedar Ridge conceded ten of the final 11 points of the first quarter and ten of the final 12 of the second to fall behind 25-10 at the break, and better team defense in the second half capped by an 8-0 surge in the game’s final minutes made the scoreline closer than it was.
But, as usual, the Red Wolves produced plenty of highlights. Angelica Carbajal drained a three for her first field goal of the season. Tori Dalehite erupted for ten fourth-quarter points, showing off her shot-making ability and persistence in the face of a slow start to give her a team-high 11 points. And Caitlyn Lloyd exploited Northern’s often nonexistent post defense en route to a ten-point showing, her first career double-digit outing. She scored five field goals, at least one in every quarter, flashed some range and some shot-making of her own, and won multiple offensive boards for her team. The road ahead for the Cedar Ridge women is rough indeed with three of the conference’s best on tap, all on the road, but on this night this team once again proved that even if they go down, it won’t be without a fight.