Going into the Clinton Christmas Tournament, Cedar Ridge was in need of answers.
Following a 6-2 start, the Red Wolves dropped its first three conference games against Orange, Northern Vance and Southern Durham. After a 10-day layoff, Cedar Ridge found its footing on Monday in Sampson County.
The Red Wolves defeated C.B. Aycock 59-46 in the first round. Peyton Pappas scored 24 points while Jacob Thomas added 16.
Cedar Ridge will face Clinton on Tuesday night at 6:30 for the tournament championship. You can hear that game here on Hillsboroughsports.com. We’ll have a link posted on the front of the page for streaming.
Meanwhile, Orange competed in the Holiday in the Pines Tournament in Southern Pines, and threatened to blow every fuse off the scoreboard in its game with Richmond County.
The Raiders came out on top over the Panthers 105-96. Connor Crabtree lit it up for Orange, scoring a career-high 41 points.
As was the case against Riverside, Orange built a double-digit second half lead only to lose it down the stretch. The Panthers started the second half on a 10-0 run to take a 62-51 lead with 6:19 remaining in the third quarter. Richmond responded with a 20-10 run to cut the deficit to 72-71 at the end of the third quarter.
Orange’s last lead was 87-86 with 4:54 remaining, but the Raiders finished the game on a 18-10 run to earn a 2nd round matchup against Mt. Zion.
Orange will face Charlotte Olympic at 2PM tomorrow in the consolation round. Mt. Zion defeated the Trojans 59-48.