Month: February 2024

Night in and night out, there’s one looming question riding above most Orange men’s basketball games.

Sophomore Cole Cloer will get his share of points. So will Kai Wade and Xandrell Pennix.

But who will be the X-factor? The player who will make the key block or grab an offensive rebound to score a crucial second-chance basket.

On Friday night, that player was Mason Robinson.

What can you do against a 6-foot-9 sophomore forward with a wide wingspan who is still growing?

As much of a gutsy effort that the Cedar Ridge men’s basketball team provided on Friday night, that was one question they just couldn’t answer.

Robinson finished with ten points, 18 rebounds and seven blocked shots, while Cole Cloer added 24 points as Orange pulled away from the Red Wolves 68-42 at Red Wolves Gymnasium.

With the win, Orange (11-10, 9-0 in the Central Conference) maintained a two-game lead over Eastern Alamance for first place in the Central Conference with three games remaining in the regular season. The Panthers’ victory eliminated Person, the league runner-up last year, from championship contention.

The Red Wolves (3-18, 1-8) were led by senior Harrison Perel, who finished with 12 points and 14 rebounds.

The final score belied the fact it was very much a competitive game in the second half. After the Red Wolves trailed by as many as 31-14 in the first half, they narrowed the deficit down to 40-34 with 1:20 remaining in the third quarter after a three-pointer by Perel and a free throw from Hayden Kirk.

Yet Robinson’s presence loomed largest on the biggest plays. After Cloer drained a 22-footer to increase Orange’s cushion to 43-34, Robinson tipped in an offensive rebound as the third quarter buzzer sounded, which sapped the Red Wolves’ momentum.

“Their length is definitely an issue,” said Cedar Ridge coach Mike Jones. “Even when we get stops and cause an initial miss, it’s hard to keep them off the offensive glass. Even when you beat them off the dribble, they’ve got so much length by the rim. It’s difficult to play against them.”

Orange outrebounded the Red Wolves 55-34. The Panthers had 24 offensive rebounds.

“This was a big game for Mason,” said Orange coach Derryl Britt. “We had him with nine rebounds at halftime and my challenge to him was to get 20. I wanted him to hunt rebounds and hunt blocks. It was a huge game for him. He can have these games every single night if his motor is revved up.”

After Perel opened the fourth quarter with a second-chance basket following a Robinson block, the Panthers went on a 15-3 run to put the game away. Pennix, who finished with six steals, picked off a pass and fed Wade for a lay-in. Honeycutt and Robinson scored consecutive second-chance field goals, followed by a 18-footer from Cloer off yet another Robinson block.

For the sixth time in nine conference games, Orange never trailed. The Panthers opened the game with a 5-0 run, including baskets from Cloer and Robinson. Dalehite drained an early 3-pointer off a pass from Perel to cut the deficit to 8-5.

Orange went on a 19-4 run, starting with Pennix draining a wing jumper. Cloer went on a personal 6-0 run late in the first quarter, which ended with a 3-pointer from Pennix assisted by Robinson.

The Panthers put four players in double figures. Honeycutt came away with ten points and nine rebounds. Pennix finished with eleven points, including an acrobatic finish to the night when he took a pass from Honeycutt and banked in a layup on an up-and-under move where the ball glanced off the top of the backboard and cleanly through the net.

Cedar Ridge held nothing back in its effort right through to the end when Dalehite dove on the floor for a loose ball trailing 61-42 with 2:47 remaining.

In Red Wolves Gymnasium on January 27, 2021, the Orange women’s basketball team entered a barren, desolate Red Wolves Gymnasium to face its crosstown rival.

There were no fans allowed inside because America was still frozen in the pandemic. The sounds from the mouths of coaches B.J. Condron of Orange and William Dobbs of Cedar Ridge, along with the players, were muffled because they were wearing masks. Cedar Ridge suited up only five players, and one of those fouled out in the fourth quarter.

Needless to say, Orange, which suited up eleven players, won by the score of 52-13. Though then-Cedar Ridge principal Carlos Ramirez applauded his team after the buzzer sounded, it was the textbook definition of bleak.

Two of those five players who suited up for Cedar Ridge that day, and forced to play the entire 32 minutes simply because of necessity, were freshmen Cameron and Cierra Copeland.

Four years later, the twin sisters started as the Red Wolves women’s basketball team carried out a milestone much more to its liking.

For the first time since 2014, the Red Wolves completed a season sweep of crosstown rival Orange with a 37-32 victory inside a much more crowded Red Wolves Gymnasium on Friday night. Cedar Ridge senior Amiyah Ware scored 15 points to help the Red Wolves finish the game on a 15-5 run.

Cedar Ridge improved to 5-4 in the Central Conference. They’re currently a half-game ahead of Walter Williams for third place and now hold the head-to-head tiebreaker over Orange, which goes a long way to helping the Red Wolves host a game in the Central Conference Tournament.

Orange (10-9, 4-5), which was tied with Western Alamance for first place in the Central Conference two weeks ago, dropped its fourth straight game.

Addie Atkins led Orange with 12 points.

In the opening minutes of the third quarter, it appeared that Orange would avenge its overtime loss to the Red Wolves from January 10. The Red Wolves missed its first six shots from the field in the second half. Atkins drained a 3-pointer with 4:58 remaining in the third quarter off a pass from Evelyn George to put the Lady Panthers ahead 26-17. Cedar Ridge point guard Sarah Utley started the comeback with a running one-hander over the outstretched arms of Natalie Robertson from the right baseline. After a shot by Orange’s Shannon Murphy rimmed out, Utley came down the floor and sank a three-pointer from the top of the floor to cut the Red Wolves deficit to 26-22, leading to an Orange timeout.

The turning point came late in the third quarter when Orange center Marshea Byrd, who finished with eleven rebounds, had a stickback attempted that nearly balanced on the front of the rim before it fell off. Cedar Ridge’s Jamee Watson threw a gorgeous bounce pass that avoided the right baseline and found center Addie Reid, who banked in a shot while getting fouled by Byrd. That cut Orange’s lead to 27-25 at the end of the quarter.

Ware started the fourth quarter with a baseline drive push shot off a pass from Watson that beat Orange’s 1-2-2 zone press. Then Watson drained a jumper from the top of the key to give Cedar Ridge its first lead since it was 10-8. Ware grabbed a defensive rebound following a subsequent Orange miss and eventually found Kate Finnegan for a 19-footer to give the Red Wolves a 30-27 lead.

Orange’s Maura McMurtry sank a 15-footer over Watson with 4:27 remaining, but Cedar Ridge kept the Panthers scoreless for the next four minutes. Ware rebounded her own miss and scored on a short baseline jumper, then followed with a deep scoop shot that banked in high off the window.

Byrd’s stickback shot with 16 seconds remaining gave Orange a fleeting hope, but Reid erased that with two free throws in the waning seconds.

Cedar Ridge, which improved to 11-9, travels to Eastern Alamance on Tuesday. The Red Wolves eleven wins are the most for the team since the 2017-2018 season, when they finished 14-11.

This week’s Cedar Ridge Red Wolf of the Week is senior men’s basketball guard Landon Dalehite. In January, Dalehite spearheaded the Red Wolves to two upset wins. On January 2, Dalehite scored 12 points as the Red Wolves upset Person 48-41 at Red Wolves Gymnasium. With Person leading 38-34, Dalehite drained a 3-pointer with 4:07 remaining in the fourth quarter. From that point forward, Person didn’t score agains as the Red Wolves gained a critical Central Conference win. The following week, Cedar Ridge upset previously undefeated Chatham Central 53-52 in overtime. Dalehite scored seven points. On Tuesday night, Dalehite led Cedar Ridge in scoring with 15 points. Since Christmas, the Red Wolves haven’t had all hands on decks because of injuries, illness and defections. But Dalehite has been there at every game. The son of Danny and Beth Dalehite, Landon is a two-sport athlete. After basketball season ends, Landon will suit up to play left field for the Cedar Ridge baseball team. Last year, Dalehite was a starter for a Cedar Ridge team that earned an automatic bid to the 3A State Playoffs. Dalehite’s sister, Tori, was a two-time Big 8 Conference champion in softball who also played volleyball and basketball at Cedar Ridge. She’s entering her senior year at UNC Greensboro. Dalehite will celebrate senior night later this month with plans to pull more upsets on the hardwood before his time is done. 

Cedar Ridge Red Wolf of the Week: Landon Dalehite

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Swimming is unique in the way it bonds Cedar Ridge and Orange participants. For one thing, the competitors usually practice together many winter mornings at the Orange County Sportsplex. Perhaps that’s why when the Central Conference Championships were held last Thursday at the Orange County Sportsplex, the relay teams for Cedar Ridge and Orange asked to do the post-meet interview together. It was a victorious night for both relay teams. Cedar Ridge’s 200 yard freestyle relay team of Phillip Cauwels, Jacob Olmstead, Christopher Seawell and Nikhil Agans won the conference championship with a time of 1:42.33. Cauwels, Olmstead, Seawell and Agans automatically qualified for the 3A Central Regionals, which will be held this Saturday at the Greensboro Aquatic Center. Orange’s 200 yard medley team of Alex Andre, Luke Roman, Nick Baczara and Ayden Twiddy won two conference championships. They captured the 200 yard medley relay, finishing at 1:53.13. Andre, Roman, Baczara and Twiddy also won the 400 yard freestyle relay at 3:38.46. It was a huge night for several individual swimmers. Roman, a junior, was named the Central Conference Male Swimmer of the Year for the second time in his career. Cedar Ridge’s Seawell, a freshman, won his first individual conference title in the 50 yard freestyle at 25.24 seconds. Baczara and Andre each won two individual championships. 

Cedar Ridge and Orange’s men’s swimming relay team’s talk their Central Conference championships

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As the dual season ends for the Cedar Ridge Red Wolves wrestling team, they can take pride in the fact they are the first of its kind.

They were the first team in school history to reach the state quarterfinals in the 3A State Dual Team Playoffs. They were the first Red Wolf team since 2010 to win a match in the state dual playoffs. They were the first Cedar Ridge team to ever beat Orange in a dual meet and just the second team in school history to win a regular season conference championship.

The Jacksonville Cardinals defeated the Red Wolves 49-27 in the 3A State Dual Quarterfinals on Wednesday night in Jacksonville. Later that night, Union Pines would claim its third consecutive 3A Eastern Regional championship when they defeated the Cardinals 47-18.

Union Pines will face Eastern Guilford for the 3A State Championship at Novant Fieldhouse in Greensboro on Saturday.

Cedar Ridge ends the dual team season 18-9.

Red Wolf senior James Este-Wittinger opened the night with a 6-4 decision over Alexander Perry to give Cedar Ridge a 3-0 lead. Este-Wittinger will go into the 3A Mideast Regionals with a 31-11 record. At heavyweight, Jacksonville’s Eteuati Taula pinned Aaron Olivares in 3:04. It was only the third loss in the last 12 matches for Olivares.

At 106 pounds, Cedar Ridge’s Favio Jaramillo Esparza pinned James Wernimont in 3:53 to give the Red Wolves a 9-6 lead. Cole Hunt of Jacksonville pinned Trevor Long at 113 pounds, but Cedar Ridge’s Pierce Prescod pinned Maxwell David in 2:18. Prescod leads the team with 33 pins this year with an overall record of 44-9.

Jacksonville dominated the middleweight classes with five straight wins. Gavin Nipper claimed a 9-3 decision over Nathan Vendura at 126 pounds to even the match at 15-15. The Cardinals’ Gavin Costillo (132), Mason McMullen (138) and Joseph Gabriel (144) all claimed pins. At 150 pounds, Brock Smith earned a major decision over Angus Pritchard 13-5, vaulting the Cardinals ahead 38-15 with four matches remaining.

Cedar Ridge junior Ryan Rakouskas pinned Anthony Campbell in 1:20. Rakouskas is now 32-11 after his 94th career win.

At 165 pounds, Kaden Tatro pinned Ethan McWaters in 51 seconds. Jacksonville’s Jonathan Moses pinned Shea Spiller to clinch the match for the Cardinals.

Next up for Cedar Ridge will be the Women’s Mideast Regionals on Friday and Saturday at Jack Britt High School in Fayetteville. The Red Wolves’ Zoey Moreno will try to reach the 3A State Women’s Individual Championships after barely missing out last year.

Even on a night when Orange’s high octane offense was slow to reach full efficiency, the Panthers still captured a wire-to-wire win on the road.

The Panthers are only three wins away from the Central Conference championship after beating Walter Williams 64-51 in Burlington on Tuesday night. Sophomore Coleman Cloer led Orange (10-10, 8-0 in the Central Conference) with 23 points, while sophomore point guard Kai Wade added 18 points as the Panthers defeated the Bulldogs for the fourth straight time.

Cloer now has three straight 20-point games. He has scored 20 or more points in six of the last seven contests, including a season-high 30 points against Western Alamance on January 3.

Williams (11-7, 3-5) was led by center Milton Turner with 17 points.

In eight conference games thus far, Orange hasn’t trailed in five of them. Against the Bulldogs, Xandrell Pennix, Cloer and Wade each hit three-pointers to open the game as Orange opened with a 9-2 lead. Turner scored six of the Bulldogs eight points in the opening quarter, but the Panthers led 17-8 at the end of the first stanza.

Williams outscored the Panthers 18-11 in the second quarter. Center Sam Rhodes scored three field goals in the second frame while Charlie Smith and Turner each knocked down three-pointers to cut the Panther lead to 31-26 at halftime.

The Bulldogs had its chances to make it a one-possession game in the third quarter after Rhodes and Amarion Richmond scored early. Orange sophomore forward Mason Robinson drained a crucial jump shot from the baseline while getting fouled by Rhodes to push the Panther lead to 46-35. Eventually, the Panthers stretched its advantage back to 57-41 behind drives from Wade, who had 12 points in the second half.

Pennix added eleven points for the Panthers, who are 7-0 since the start of 2024. Orange now leads Eastern Alamance by two games for first place in the Central Conference with four games remaining. The Panthers will travel to Cedar Ridge, its third straight road game, on Friday night.

SOUTHERN ALAMANCE 52, CEDAR RIDGE 44: In its fight to stay in the Central Conference championship race, the Patriots broke open a halftime tie to top the Red Wolves inside Cedar Ridge Gymnasium on Tuesday night.

Southern Alamance shot 8-of-11 from the field in the 3rd quarter, starting the second half on a 9-0 run to stay ahead for good. The Patriots’ Evan Jacobson started with a 3-pointer off an assist from Tyler Moore on the first possession of the third quarter. Josiah Aiken paced Southern Alamance with 16 points while Jordan Moore had eleven points and seven rebounds.

The Patriots improved to 12-8 overall, 5-3 in the Central Conference.

Cedar Ridge senior Landon Dalehite paced the Red Wolves with 15 points. Junior Braden Wilbourn had 14 points and seven rebounds. The Red Wolves (3-17, 1-7) got eleven rebounds from senior Harrison Perel.

Southern Alamance built a 15-8 lead after a jumper by Moore early in the second quarter. Cedar Ridge reeled off eight straight points to take a 16-15 lead starting with two free throws by Dalehite and consecutive jumpers by freshman Jordan Jacobson. Perel set up a lay-in by Wilbourn to put the Red Wolves ahead 16-15. The two teams traded the lead in the final minutes of the first half. Dalehite hit two more free throws to give the Red Wolves a 20-18 lead, but Aiken scored on a stickback basket to tie the game 22-22 at halftime.

Aiken capped Southern Alamance’s 8-0 run to open the second half with another basket off an offensive rebound. Dalehite responded with a 3-pointer, then assisted on a lay-in by Wilbourn to cut the Patriots’ lead to 33-30. That was as close as the Red Wolves would get as the Patriots went on a 10-0 run. Southern Alamance’s Chris Epps came off the bench to score five straight points, including a corner three-pointer. Moore scored off a strip and steal to end the third quarter with the Patriots in control at 40-30.

The Orange men’s basketball team is three wins away from its first conference championship since the 2016-2017 season. On Friday night, Orange went into Elon and never trailed in beating Western Alamance 76-50. The Panthers placed four players in double figures. Junior Michael Clark played the final 12 minutes and scored a season-high eleven points as Orange improved to 7-0 in the Central Conference. Sophomore Coleman Cloer scored 16 points to lead all scorers. It was the fourth time in six games that Orange led wire-to-wire. The Warriors got an early three-pointer from Chris Hester to tie the game at 3-3, but Orange never trailed as they improved to 8-10. Sophomore forward Mason Robinson had several huge dunks, including one in the opening quarter that even left some Warriors fans high-fiving each other. Robinson also had five blocks. Orange’s bench unit of Freddy Sneed, Hector Garrido, Keaton Westbrook, Ryan Moss, Malykahi Justice kept the Warriors in check as Orange piled up 76 points. The Panthers lead Eastern Alamance by two games in the loss column with four games remaining in the regular season. Orange will travel to Cedar Ridge on Friday night to face the Red Wolves. It will be Orange’s third straight road game. They will look to beat the Red Wolves for the seventh straight time.

Orange men’s basketball’s Mason Robinson & Michael Clark discuss win over Western Alamance

The Orange men’s basketball team is three wins away from its first conference championship since the 2016-2017 season. On Friday night, Orange went into Elon and never trailed in beating Western Alamance 76-50. The Panthers placed four players in double figures.