Photo by Carly Williams
There’s something to be said for a grinding, proud team that plays hard for its coach regardless of the opposition. That’s what Cedar Ridge men’s basketball is right now.
If a program is lucky, once every 10-15 years it finds itself with a player or two that collects multiple Division I college offers and shows why every night they step onto the floor.
That’s Orange basketball right now.
The differences stood out on Wednesday night.
Orange led by as many as 31 points against its crosstown rival and defeated Cedar Ridge 82-53 at Panthers Gymnasium. Sophomore point guard Kai Wade and forward Coleman Cloer each finished with 18 points while junior Xandrell Pennix added 16 as the Panthers defeated the Red Wolves for the sixth straight time.
Junior Braeden Wilbourn led the Red Wolves with 15 points while senior center Harrison Perel added 13 points and nine rebounds.
Since the start of 2024, Orange has won three straight Central Conference games by an average of 34 points and haven’t trailed at any point. The Panthers (5-10, 4-0 in the Central Conference) are tied with Eastern Alamance in the loss column for first place in league play.
Through a twist of fate on scheduling, Orange is facing its crosstown rival and its Highway 57 rival in the same way. After dispatching of Cedar Ridge, the Panthers will face Person tonight in Hillsborough on two days rest.
The Rockets have beaten the Panthers five straight times, including three last year. The Panthers last win over the Rockets came on December 15, 2014.
“We’re on a mission,” said Orange coach Derryl Britt. “We’re focused on the big picture. We’re trying to win these individual games one at a time, but we’re on a team mission and a team goal. That is if we beat everybody in the conference the first time around, I believe that half of the conference is going to beat each other up. That would make it extremely difficult for anybody to catch us.”
Orange junior Xandrell Pennix opened the game with seven points in the first quarter, the hottest in a line of hot hands for the Panthers. Orange had four three-pointers in the first quarter, which included treys from Cloer, Wade and Keaton Westbrook. The Panthers shot 8-of-11 from the field in the opening stanza to take a 20-11 lead.
The Panthers had 26 points in the second quarter and built a 46-21 halftime lead. Orange center Ryan Honeycutt finished with ten points and eleven rebounds, his fifth double-double of the season.
Orange finished with 44% shooting from the field and out rebounded the Red Wolves 50-39, including 19 offensive rebounds.
Pennix opened the second half with a three-pointer, which started a highlight show that delighted the packed Orange student section, most of whom were adorned in white t-shirts. Pennix stole the subsequent inbounds pass and threw a off-the-backboard ally-oop to Cloer, which flushed it down with a reverse dunk to send the home side of the gymnasium into a frenzy.
Orange built its lead to 61-27 after another 3-pointer from Pennix with 4:10 remaining in the third quarter. Perel triggered a comeback that got the Red Wolves within 65-44 with 7:01 left in the fourth quarter. Perel scored eleven of his 13 points in the second half. Freshman Jordan Jacobson, who scored the game-winning basket against Chatham Central on Monday night in overtime, scored ten points for the Red Wolves.
Orange’s Hector Garrido came off the bench to score seven points and grab four rebounds. Michael Clark, who played as a freshman on the varsity two years ago, chipped in six points and grabbed six rebounds in garbage time.
Cedar Ridge will return home to face Eastern Alamance tonight in Hillsborough at Red Wolves Gymnasium.