For the second time in four nights, Cedar Ridge and Northern Durham went down to the wire on Friday.
This time, Cedar Ridge had the answer in the clutch and his name was Jordan Jacobson.
With 2:00 remaining in the game, Jacobson took an inbounds pass from Braedon Wilbourn, drove past Northern’s Nasir Hasksins, scored on a lay-in while getting fouled to put the Red Wolves ahead 55-52. Jacobson drained four free throws in the final 30 seconds as Cedar Ridge defeated Northern 61-57 at Red Wolves Gymnasium.
Cedar Ridge avenged an earlier loss to Northern Durham from last Tuesday at Knights Gymnasium, where the game was also tied with 1:54 remaining. Just like Friday night, Tuesday’s game turned off an old school, 3-point play scored by the Knights’ Amari Stokes, who scored with 1:28 remaining after being fouled by Cedar Ridge’s Luke Orstad. The Knights’ won 59-53.
On Friday, there were ten lead changes and three ties as Cedar Ridge improved to 5-2, improving on its best start since the 2016-2017 season. Wilbourn led Cedar Ridge with 18 points and eleven rebounds.
Haskins paced Northern (3-5) with 17 points.
Cedar Ridge led 48-42 going into the fourth quarter after a foul line jumper by Wllbourn bounced in at the third quarter buzzer as head coach Mike Jones danced down the sidelines to watch it fall through the net.
Northern opened the fourth quarter on an 8-2 run, keyed by Bostic, who drained two free throws to cut the Red Wolf lead to 50-48 with 3:57 remaining. After Northern’s Camden Riley blocked a shot by Jacobson, Riley grabbed the loose ball and was fouled by Jacobson on the other end. Riley’s free throws tied the game at 50-50.
Bostic gave Northern it’s only lead of the fourth quarter when he poked the ball away and scored on a lay-in while being fouled by Orstad, vaulting the Knights ahead 52-50 with 2:34 remaining. Afterwards, Orstad hit two free throws after being fouled by Riley to even it up with 2:23 remaining.
In the third quarter, Cedar Ridge led by as much as 36-25 following a lay-in by center Jack Kelsey off a feed from Orstad. Northern chipped away at the Red Wolf lead, drawing to within 38-36 following a 3-pointer by Hasking with 3;10 remaining in the first half.
Cedar Ridge’s Kevin Etim, who finished with six points and three rebounds, assisted on a basket by Wilbourn. Jacobson stole a long pass by Haskins and fed Wilbourn to push the lead to 46-40.
Cedar Ridge led 32-25 after Orstad scored on another old fashioned three-point play. He was fouled by Haskins as he took a pass from Jacobson and drained a free throw with three seconds remaining before halftime.