Month: February 2020

Marvin Jones: The former Cedar Ridge Red Wolf was named the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Male Athlete of the Week. Jones, a junior on the North Carolina Central track & field team, won his third high jump competition of the season at the Darius Dixon Memorial at Liberty University on Saturday. Jones had a career-best jump of 2.10 meters. He also won the Camel City Invitational and the JDL January College Kickoff for the Eagles. Jones will compete in the MEAC Indoor Track & Field Championships in Landover, MD starting Thursday.

Jamar Davis: The N.C. State indoor track & field team competed in the Don Kirby Elite Invitational at New Mexico University in Albuquerque, NM. Davis finished fourth in the triple jump with a leap of 50’6.25″. He has already qualified for the ACC Indoor Track & Field Championships, which will be held at South Bend, IN starting February 27.

Braden Homsey: Wrestling at 197 pounds for Division III Ferrum College, Homsey won the Southeast Wrestling Conference Tournament at Huntingdon College in Montgomery, AL on Saturday. In the championship match, Homsey edged Huntingdon’s Jack Haury 11-10. Homsey scored a technical fall over D.J. Adams of Huntingdon in the opening round and pinned Montana Doty of the University of the Ozarks in 6:14 to reach the finals. Ferrum won the team championship, as well. Homsey is 25-9 with two pins this season.

Icez Barnett: The freshman for the Division II Chowan women’s basketball team earned her first college start on Saturday. Barnett played 16 minutes as King defeated Chowan 72-45. Barnett scored six points off 3-of-7 shooting, and grabbed two rebounds. On February 11, Barton routed Chowan 88-58 in the Helms Center in Murfreesboro. Barnett came off the bench and scored six points and grabbed six rebounds in 17 minutes. Chowan is 4-19, 4-15 in Conference Carolinas. Icez has played in 15 games this season for the Hawks. She has averaged 9.2 minutes per game and has scored 32 points. Chowan will return to action against Southern Wesleyan in Central, S.C. on Wednesday.

Kaylen Campbell: On Saturday, the Division III Trinity Bantams women’s college basketball team defeated Hamilton 74-71 in double overtime at Oosting Gymnasium in Hartford, CT. It was the New England Small College Athletic Conference regular season finale for Trinity. Campbell came off the bench and played seven minutes. The victory ended a four-game losing streak for the Bantams. On Friday, Campbell scored two points in six minutes as Trinity lost to Amherst 58-53. Trinity concludes the regular season 16-8 and will play at Williams at Williamstown, MA in the opening round of the NESCAC Tournament on Saturday. This season, Campbell has played in 19 of the Bantam’s 24 games. She is averaging 11.3 minutes per game and 2.7 points per game.

Lauren Cates: On Thursday, Catawba Valley Community College defeated Wake Technical Community College 62-52. On February 8, Cape Fear Community College beat Wake Tech 90-83. Cates, a freshman guard for Wake Tech, started but didn’t take any shots. In 22 games this season, Cates is averaging 8.7 points per game and shooting 35.3% from the field. Wake Tech is 16-7 overall, 9-6 in Region X.

There’s so much spring sports news between baseball, softball and men’s lacrosse that will have another alumni update early Tuesday morning. It was another strong weekend for Mia Davidson and the Mississippi State Bulldogs softball team. Plus, Brad Debo started his senior season with the N.C. State baseball team and the Pfeiffer men’s lacrosse team kicked off its season.

Photo by Cassie Summers

Despite a down year by traditional team standards, Orange High wrestling will have three representatives at the 3A State Championships this week.

Brendon Worsham, Kessel Summers and Xavier Tinnen all qualified during the Mideast Regionals at Cape Fear High School in Fayetteville on Saturday. Worsham, who had only four varsity matches entering this year, reached the finals of the 182 pound championship, falling to Eastern Guilford’s Perry Sharpe 13-10 in the final match.

On Friday, Worsham opened by pinning Alex Christian of Cedar Ridge in 3:40. Worsham pinned Carl Thames of West Johnston in 3:04 to advance to the semifinals.

On Saturday, Worsham defeated Walter Williams’ Joshua Shorter 11-3, becoming the only wrestler from Hillsborough to reach a championship final in the event. It was the 2nd time this year that Worsham finished 2nd in a tournament. In the Silver Fox Tournament at Riverside High in Durham on January 25, Worsham had a runner-up finish at 182 pounds.

Summers, a junior reached the state championships for the second year in a row. Competing at 126 pounds, Summers rolled past Union Pines’ Andrew Clark 14-5 in the 3rd place match. Last year, Summers finished third at 113 pounds in the regionals at Southeast Guilford High, where he pinned Southern Durham’s Shyheem Davis at 4:57 to move on to Greensboro.

Tinnen, who was 8-3 last season wrestling at 220 pounds, finished fourth at 195 pounds. This was the first time that Tinnen participated in a regional championship. Last year, Donald Hicks competed at 195 pounds for Orange, while Jake McBroom wrestled at 220.

On Friday, Tinnen pinned East Chapel Hill’s Fathi Awawdeh in 1:06, then pinned Eastern Alamance’s Gonzalez Turner in 1:22. In the semifinals, Westover’s Marcus Williams pinned Tinnen. In the consolation round, Tinnen defeated Malachi Nettles of Trinity to clinch a spot in the state tournament. Southern Durham’s Jamae Blank defeated Tinnen for third place.

The career of Orange heavyweight Juan Navarro came to an end shy of reaching his goal of qualifying for the state championships. Navarro faced Chapel Hill’s Benjamin Yates in the opening round, two weeks after their match in the regular season went past triple overtime and into a ride out. On that night, Navarro escaped and won 3-2. On Friday, Yates pinned Navarro at 5:59.

Navarro rebounded to beat Cedar Ridge’s Louis Tedder and Union Pines’ Kellen DeVries in the consolation round. Northwood’s Ben McGaughnea pinned Navarro, who won over 80 matches in his Orange career despite starting only the past two years.

Cedar Ridge’s season ended on Saturday. Freshman Fernando Martinez and Alex Davis came the closest to reaching Greensboro. Martinez was eliminated in the consolation semifinals by Southern Durham’s Ashton O’Neal via forfeit. Martinez pinned Western Alamance’s Evan Connetta in 1:18 of the opening match, then he reached the semifinals after beating Grey’s Creek’s Zane Ray 15-9. Chapel Hill’s Lucas Daly defeated Martinez by technical fall and was injured during the match.

Davis, competing at 138 pounds, also reached the semifinals. In the opening round, he pinned Western Alamance’s Mason Hogsed in 2:41. Davis defeated Harnett Central’s Jorge Cruz in 3:05. Union Pines Aaron Faison, who won the championship, pinned Davis in 4:30. Kaleb Williams of Fayetteville Byrd, who eliminated Orange’s Henry Joubert-Stenzel earlier in the day, defeated Davis 12-1.

The 3A State Championships get underway at 5 o’clock Friday afternoon at the Greensboro Coliseum. The consolation rounds start Friday morning at 9, while the championship semifinals will be at 6 PM. The Championship Finals will be held at 4 o’clock Saturday afternoon.

This week’s Orange Panther of the Week is indoor track and field jumper Erin Mink. On January 18, Mink won the high jump event at the East Chapel Hill Polar Bear #4 at Dave Thaden Stadium with a leap of four feet, eight inches. On that same day, Mink finished second in the long jump at 14 feet, 1.75 inches. She also came in second in the triple jump at 30 feet, 4.25 inches. She came in second in both events. At the East Chapel Hill Polar Bear #6 on February 1, Mink finished first in the triple jump at 30 feet, 7.75 inches. Mink competed in four different East Chapel Hill Polar Bear events this winter. She will now prepare for the start of outdoor season, which starts in March. Last March, Erin won the high jump in the opening outdoor track meet of the season in a dual meet against East Chapel Hill. The following week, she won another high jump event in a tri-meet with Southern Durham and Chapel Hill, and finished third in the long jump with a leap of 14 feet. Mink finished third in the triple jump.

by Tim Hackett

It was a pretty remarkable way for Joey McMullin to bookend his senior season. Sandwiched in between his first and his final games this season is a lot of tumult he surely wishes were different, but on this February Friday in Durham the Orange senior ended his final regular season the same way he started it back in late November – an outing of better than 35 points on about a half-dozen made three-pointers, lights-out shooting, nearly mistake-free play, and, to top it off, a Panther victory.

Nearly three months after McMullin kickstarted the Panther season with a career-best 38-point performance in Orange’s season opener, McMullin sealed the season with a 36-point effort, keyed by a career-high seven threes, adding in his tenth double-double for good measure, and leading Orange (10-14, 4-10 Big 8) to a 65-56 win over Northern Durham (4-20, 2-12) on Friday night at Poe Gymnatorium. With the win, Orange avoided finishing the year in last in the conference, dooming the Knights to the basement position via their tenth straight loss.

“Joey was super big inside and out tonight,” Orange head coach Derryl Britt said via text postgame. “He put the team on his back and carried us to victory!”

This game was as close as expected in the first half, following an ultra-tight 60-59 Northern win last month in Hillsborough (the Knights’ last win prior to this ten-game losing streak). The Knights scored the final six points of the first half to level the score at 25 apiece going into the break, and scored five of the first seven of the second half to take a 30-27 lead early.

They would not lead again. Orange scored the next 11 points, anchored by a pair of McMullin threes, to pull ahead, and outscored Northern 21-10 over the final six minutes of the frame. Jason Franklin was strong throughout the night for Orange, hitting consecutive threes of his own in that stretch to stake the Panthers to a 48-40 lead after three.

The two thinnest teams in the conference were being tested and going toe-to-toe – both schools sport only ten men on their rosters, and due to injuries and other factors both head coaches really only had eight guys to deploy. And Orange’s depth – or lack thereof – was tested even further when McMullin came up hobbling after he wrenched away a defensive rebound and ran almost literally into the bleachers before hitting the floor in pain. Some Northern trainers taped up his ankle on a table near the Northern bench, but his team soldiered on even with their best player sidelined. JJ Thompson hit a cutting layup. Kendrell Brooks converted a nice spinning floater. And Hunter Burch connected on two stickback layups, part of a career-best four-point day for a guy who had scored just ten points all season. But in the meantime Northern went on a run. They scored in all three phases – Greg Webb from in tight, Torrey Alston from midrange, and Derrien Hicklen from (extremely) deep – and started the fourth quarter on a 9-4 run to pull within 52-49.

Ultimately, McMullin valiantly returned to the game and promptly hit another three – his seventh – and a two shortly thereafter to put Orange back ahead 60-51. With time winding down, Northern tried to foul to preserve the clock, but the Knights had committed so few fouls over the course of the half that it took them forever to force Orange into the bonus. And once the Panthers got there they weren’t able to salt the Knights away, even with Franklin and McMullin, two of the most consistent foul shooters in the conference, tasked with the job. Hicklen pulled yet another deep three out of his bag – we’re talking a shot from around five feet outside the arc – to cut it to 62-56, but the Knights continued to foul McMullin, and he made good down the stretch. Northern forced up one final shot that went offline and – fittingly – into the hands one final time of Joey McMullin to wrap up a 65-56 Panther win.

“He was a beast on the boards,” Britt said of McMullin. “Great all-around game.”

The stakes were quite clear for this regular season finale: lose, and your team finishes in the basement of the Big 8. McMullin and the Panthers did more than enough to ensure that stigma wasn’t stuck onto them. There’s no doubt that 7^th place in this conference will feel loads better than 8^th. Their reward for this effort? Well, it really feels more like the exact opposite of an award – a trip to second-place Southern Durham in the first round of the Big 8 Conference Tournament next Tuesday. It’ll be a tall task against one of the best teams in 3A, but it will give the Panthers one more shot to extend what was once such a promising season. And it will give us one more chance to watch Joey McMullin create the magic he’s made almost all year.  

Like many East Carolina basketball fans, Orange women’s basketball coach B.J. Condron cheers for the Pirates and roots really hard for UNC.

Condron can relate to what Roy Williams has gone through this year, except the Orange Lady Panthers won’t have any one-and-dones.

But they’ve had plenty of injuries, just like the Tar Heels.

On Friday night, Orange defeated Northern Durham 45-36 in its senior night game at Panther Gymnasium. Sophomore guard Aaliyah Harris had 12 points to lead the Lady Panthers. It was the 14th time this year that Harris scored in double figures.

It was the seventh time this year that Orange played without two starters from their opening night lineup against Granville Central on December 3.

Orange’s only returning starter from last year, sophomore Mary Moss Wirt, hasn’t played since December 12 against Carrboro because of a torn ACL. Wirt, who missed her 18th game of the season on Friday, is also likely out for softball, where she was Orange’s starting 2nd baseman last year.

Six Orange players have missed games this season due to injury or various other activities, but Condron believes the fact they still finished .500 against a formidable schedule is why he’ll remember them.

“This is a special group,” Condron said. “The way they’ve never got too down after losses. They’ve always gone and fought, even when we’re down in games. They always get in there and fight. There haven’t been many practices that I’ve been completely unhappy with in terms of effort and attitude.”  

Orange (11-11, 5-9 in the Big 8 Conference) will face Chapel Hill in the opening round of the Big 8 Tournament on Tuesday. The winner of Orange-Chapel Hill will face either Southern Durham or Northern in the semifinals.

After Northern led 7-6 at the end of the first quarter, sophomore Samantha George hit two 3-pointers, while Jala Rainey banked in another trey to push Orange’s lead out to 21-10. Northern closed out the first half with 5-0 run, including a 3-pointer from Afin Rahman and a lay-up from Maya Hood, who led all scorers with 15 points.

George, who had a strong game against Southern Durham on Wednesday, got extra minutes with senior Grace Andrews out of the lineup.

“She handled herself with some poise (against Southern) despite being a tough situation,” Condron said. “And it transformed into this game.”

George ended the third quarter with a lay-up at the buzzer to increase Orange’s advantage to 35-27. The Lady Panthers held Northern without a point for the opening 5:17 of the fourth quarter. Freshman center Erin Jordan-Cornell scored two layups during an 8-0 Orange run, which ended with a 3-pointer from Harris.

Jordan-Cornell finished with ten points.

With Andrews out, the only senior in uniform for Orange on Friday was Brenna Mehl, who scored the game’s opening field goal. Mehl, who has a four-point-six GPA, will study biomedical engineering at UNC or N.C. State. She has also been accepted at Notre Dame. She was also a member of Orange’s 2018-19 team, which finished 2nd in the Big 8 behind Hillside and reached the 3A State Playoffs.

ORANGE 45, NORTHERN DURHAM 36

NORTHERN DURHAM: Maya Hood 15, Zaria Pittman 5, Afia Rahman 8, Nia Boney 1, Deniya El-Amin 7.

ORANGE: Aaliyah Harris 12, Jala Rainey 7, Erin Jordan-Cornell 10, Jarmil Wingate 4, Brenna Mehl 2, Samantha George 8, Kately Van Mater 2.

This week’s Cedar Ridge Red Wolf of the Week is junior wrestler Kady Watkins. Last week, Watkins became the first female wrestler in Hillsborough history to reach the semifinals of a state championship. Watkins defeated Swansboro’s Madeline Copley 9-6 in the 120B-pound division. Watkins earned ten victories this season for Cedar Ridge. She got involved in wrestling when she realized that cheerleading wasn’t her taste. Even though she’s competed in track & field, wrestling is her top sport. In fact, her younger sister Emma is also a wrestler at Cedar Ridge and the Red Wolves wrestling team had four female grapplers on the squad this year. Now that Kady’s wrestling season has ended, she will focus on track & field this spring. Then it will be back to training for the start of wrestling season next fall, where Watkins aims to place in next February’s women’s state championships.

As usual, the Orange women’s basketball team was short handed on Friday night. This time, it was on Senior Night against Northern Durham. Despite some early offensive problems, the Lady Panthers defeated Northern 45-36 at Panther Gymnasium. Orange trailed 7-6 at the end of the first quarter, but Samantha George hit two key 3-pointers in the second quarter. George raced down the floor in the waning seconds of the third quarter to hit a lay-up at the buzzer. It was a special night for senior Brenna Mehl, who played her final game at Orange High. Mehl hit the first jump shot of the game. Brenna has a 4.6 grade point average and plans to study biomedical engineering at UNC or N.C. State. She has also been accepted at Notre Dame. The Orange women end the regular season 11-11, despite playing most of the year without sophomore Mary Moss Wirt, who was the only returning starter from last year. Orange will travel to Chapel Hill for the opening round of the Big 8 Conference Tournament on Tuesday night at 7.