Jeff Hamlin

After playing twice in two days, the Cedar Ridge boys basketball team will have to be content with a split going into Christmas break.

Elijah Haynes scored 21 points as the Tigers defeated the Red Wolves 75-62 at Tiger Gymnasium.

Terrance Crawford led the Red Wolves with 16 points, while Dmonte Kinney and Khalil Barnett added ten.

According to the News of Orange, Cedar Ridge led 22-15 in the second quarter before the Tigers finished the half on a 18-2 run. CHHS led 33-24 at the half and never trailed again.

Cedar Ridge heads into the Holiday at the Pines Tournament in Southern Pines with a 5-4 record, 1-2 in the Big 8.

On Monday night, the Red Wolves had a healthy Caleb Cashaw against Granville Center, which made a big difference.

Cashaw paced the Red Wolves with 18 points on 8-of-9 shooting from the field as Cedar Ridge cruised past the Panthers 68-54 in Stem. Freshman Mekai Collins added 13 points, including 3-of-5 from 3-point range.

Trailing 15-14 after the first quarter, Cedar Ridge held the Panthers to nine points in the second quarter. Cedar Ridge shot a season-high 51 percent from the field.

B.J. Freeman added eight points and nine rebounds.

The Cedar Ridge girls basketball team enters the holiday break on a three-game winning streak. The Red Wolves defeated Granville Central 71-35 on Monday, then knocked off Chapel Hill 40-25 on Tuesday. Cedar Ridge is now 6-3, 2-1 in the Big 8. The Red Wolves of Coach Felton Page will start play in the Eastern Alamance Holiday Tournament on Thursday.

Before the Cedar Ridge and Orange boys and girls basketball teams go thinking about opening presents, getting much-needed rest during Christmas break and enjoying the NBA’s smorgasbord of games next Sunday, they have their business to take care of on the hardwood.

On Friday, the Cedar Ridge boys and girls were supposed to play on Friday against Southern Durham. The Orange squads were slated to face Northern Vance. None of those games took place. They Orange County School System cancelled after school activities on Friday afternoon due to the threat of freezing rain. That despite the fact that Northern Vance’s boys and girls team had already made the 75-minute trip from near the Virginia border to Hillsborough by bus, only to be told there would be no games that night (The doubleheaders are slated to be rescheduled for January, though a date hasn’t been determined by school).

Now, CRHS and Orange have vital games this week before going into their holiday tournament. Cedar Ridge will play two games in two days, starting with its first road trip of the season tonight against Granville Central in Stem. (It will be another tripleheader, with the girls playing at 6, the boys at 7:30). Then on Tuesday night, the boys travel to Chapel Hill, while the girls will host the Red Wolves.

Cedar Ridge is 4-3, 1-1 in the Big 8 Conference. They will enter tonight’s game against the Panthers will five days off after its thrilling 39-36 victory over Northern Vance last Wednesday, a game where Dmonte Kinney hit the game-winning 3-pointer with :18 remaining.

For Cedar Ridge, the layoff between games was welcomed with open arms. Center Colby Cashaw has been hampered with a knee injury since the Orange game on December 10. He was held to two points against the Vikings.

The Orange boys have only one game this week, but it will play a huge role in the Big 8 Championship race. They travel to Southern Durham on Tuesday night for at 7:00 tipoff.

The Panthers lost to East Chapel Hill on Wednesday 67-58 to fall to 5-4. They shot 36% from the field, but only 5-of-24 from 3-point range. Connor Crabtree scored a season-high 35 points, but Logan Vosburg was held to a season-low four points.

The Orange girls will get a chance to go into Christmas undefeated when they host Soutnern Durham on Tuesday at 7:00. Orange held off East Chapel Hill 46-39 on Tuesday at Wildcat Gymnasium. Kaylen Campbell scored 13 points while Jazlyn Watson registered 12. Icez Barnett had 12 rebounds, though East Chapel Hill outrebounded the Panthers 38-34. The Panthers’ defense stifled the Wildcats, limiting them to 22% shooting from the field.

The local schools will split in different directions for their respective holiday tournaments.

The Orange boys travel to Greensboro for the Eastern Guilford Holiday Tournament, starting Wednesday, December 28. It will be an eight-team field with the championship slated for December 30.

The Orange Girls and Cedar Ridge girls will both play in Mebane at the Eastern Alamance Holiday Tournament starting December 29th. It’s also an eight-team field with the championship set for New Year’s Eve.

As for the Cedar Ridge boys, they head to Southern Pines for the Holiday in the Pines tournament. The Red Wolves will open against Pinecrest on December 28th.

For the second time in three weeks, Orange wrestling captured a team championship at a multi squad tournament.

After winning the Jim King/Orange Invitational two weeks ago, the Panthers finished first in the Eastern Alamance Eagle Classic on Saturday. Behind 1st place finishes from Gavin Wiggins (120), Charlie Fitzpatrick (152) and Payton Wilson (220), the Panthers finished with 286 points, outdistancing Southeast Guilford’s 259. Cedar Ridge finished with 65.

After coming in as the runner-up at the JKO, Wiggins won the 120 pound championship with two major decisions and a pin. He defeated Graham’s Isiah Smith 11-1 on Friday to advance to the semifinals. On Saturday, he easily put away Bishop McGuiness’ Jared Russell 15-1 before pinning Southeast Guilford’s Turner Garrison in 2:32. Wiggins is now 17-3.

Fitzpatrick’s path to the championship was so dominant, he was only extended into the 2nd period once in four matches. He pinned Raleigh Sanderson’s Arsalan Momand in :17, followed by a 1:04 pin of Bartlett Yancey’s Tristan Winn. In the semifinals, he pinned Eastern Alamance’s Jordan Carr-Daye in 1:12. Fitzpatrick earned the championship by pinning Cole Wellington of Dan River (out of Danville, VA) in 2:55. Fitzpatrick is 19-1 with 16 pins.

Wilson’s three matches might as well have been timed with a stopwatch. He pinned Southeast Guilford’s Levi West in :56 for the 220 championship—his longest match of the weekend. He finished off Cedar Ridge’s Izaac Rivera in :51 on Friday, then defeated Bishop McGuiness’ Nick Ackerman in :16, the second-fastest pin of the weekend (East Chapel Hill’s Micah Baker pulled off a :15 pin in the 285 consolation round).

After missing the final two dual matches in last weekend’s Jim Coggins Classic at Southwest Guilford and Wednesday’s dual match against Northwood because of an ingrown hair on his right leg, Bailey Hawkins returned to action for a runner-up finish at 132 pounds. Hawking scored two pins (over Bartlett Yancey’s Talyn Graes in 1:24 and Northwest Guilford’s Finn Queen in 1:14), then claimed a major decision over Jose Chahulz of Burlington Williams 16-0. Southeast Guilford’s Austin Robinson captured the championship by beating Hawkins 15-6.

Also finishing second was Mitchel Askew at 106 and Daylan Alston at heavyweight. Askew rolled into the finals after a 9-4 victory over Bartlett Yancey’s Jacob Wright in the semfinals. He fell to Northern Guilford’s Heath Ginger 11-3. Askew scored two pins on Thursday over Dan River’s Jalon Scales (1:30) and Northwest Guilford’s Duncan McGuire (:56). Askew, who had a ten-match winning streak going into the Ginger bout, is now 18-2.

Alston pinned Northern Guilford’s Paul Klutz in 1:22 to make the semifinals. On Saturday, he pinned Dakota McLendon of Eastern Alamance in :46 before falling to Southeast Guilford’s Evan Surgeon 11-3.

At 170, Josiah Ramirez suffered his first loss of the season after opening the campaign with 19 straight win. He fell in the semfinals to Northwest Guilford’s Chris Garrison 3-2. Ramirez rebounded to earn third place by pinning Cedar Ridge’s Seth McKee in 2:20, followed by another pin of Western Alamance’s Devin Daniels in 3:49.

Also earning third place was Levi Anderson (138); Avery Jenkins (145); Caleb Brimmer (160); and Braden Homsey (182).

Jamar Davis finished fourth at 195. Mitchell Lopeman came in 5th at 126.

Among Cedar Ridge grapplers, Seth McKee  finishing 5th at 170 pounds. He pinned Walker Stewart of Williams in :18 before falling to Southeast Guilford’s Ben Bolcavage in :30. In the consolation rounds, McKee pinned Alex Credle of Northern Guilford in :50 and Bartlett Yancey’s Zack Riccihini in 1:49.

The Red Wolves’ DeMarcus Smith finished 5th at 170. He pinned Cummings’ Jacob Boggs in 2:13 to place in the tournament. Smith earned wins over Williams’ Charlie Sartin, Sanderson’s Kim Blythe and Bishop McGuinness’ Garrett Hope.

Orange and Cedar Ridge will partcipate in the Tiger Holiday Wrestling Classic, a two-day tournament that begins Thursday at Chapel Hill High School. The finals will be Friday.

The 80th Shine Bowl of the Carolinas bore little resemblance to the 79th.

Last year’s battle between North and South Carolina was the highest-scoring in event history, with North Carolina winning 54-39.

On Saturday, it was a defensive struggle at Gibbs Stadium in Spartansburg, SC. South Carolina opened the scoring with a touchdown and never saw the end zone again. They had two first downs in the second half.

North Carolina defeated South Carolina 17-10 on a 18-yard touchdown pass from Myers Park quarterback Jack Davidson to Northwest Guilford’s Thomas Henningan with :20 remaining.

North Carolina had four Orange representatives on the squad. Defensive end Stone Edwards and linebacker Devondrez Moore. Serving as assistant coaches were Panthers head coach Pat Moser and defensive coordinator Van Smith.

Edwards, who finished his senior season with 67 tackles, 21 tackles for loss and 13 sacks, had 2 tackles and a sack. Moore, a linebacker for transferred to Hillsborough from Northern Durham, was 2nd on the team with 79 tackles in 2016. On Saturday, he had 1.5 tackles for loss.

North Carolina scored the game’s final 17 points.

The Shrine Bowl coincided with State Championship Saturday, when seven state championships were decided to end the fall sports season. While Moser, Smith, Edwards and Moore would have preferred to spend their Saturday playing at BB&T Field for the 3-A State Championship, Orange High was loosely represented in the state championships.

Former Orange running back Damon Scott, the backbone of the Panthers offense in 1992 that went to the 2nd round of the 4-A state playoffs, served as an assistant coach for the Shelby Golden Lions. At Carter-Finley Stadium, Shelby earned its 4th consecutive 2-AA state championship, defeating Jacksonville Northside 28-6.

After graduating from Orange, Scott became a I-AA All-American running back for Appalachian State. For two seasons, he shared the backfield with quarterback Scott Satterfield, who graduated from Orange in 1991.

Coincidentally enough, Satterfield also earned a coaching championship on Saturday. Satterfield, now the head coach at Appalachian State, earned its second consecutive Camillia Bowl Championship, holding off Toledo 31-28 in Montgomery, Alabama.

App State reached 10 victories for the second straight year and became the first FBS team to win two bowl games in its first two years of eligibility. Last season, it overcame a 24-7 deficit to beat Ohio 31-29 on a last-second field goal from Zach Matics.

Hillsboroughsports.com has added radio coverage of Cedar Ridge boys and girls basketball games to its coverage.

Because of the generosity of sponsors like Carolina Hilltopper Lacrosse, the Deer Pushers Association of America, Handy Andy’s, and Carden’s Body and Paint Shop, coverage of Cedar Ridge sports will now be carried on HillsboroughSports.com. This will extend to spring sports, as well as to next football season.

In order to listen to Cedar Ridge sports, simply go to http://www.spreaker.com/user/cedarridge. Not only can you hear the broadcasts live, but they’re available on demand to hear the moments you want to experience again.

HillsboroughSports.com’s focus is to cover high school sports in an updated, comprehensive fashion featuring all athletes in all fields, regardless of season. The addition of the Cedar Ridge Network will continue that purpose well into the future.

Kevin Anzenberger will serve as the play-by-play man for Cedar Ridge basketball, baseball, lacrosse and softball games for the future. The website will broadcast as many games as possible as staffing allows, starting with Friday’s doubleheader against Southern Durham at CRHS Gymnasium.

In order to inquire about sponsoring Cedar Ridge broadcasts, email Jeff Hamlin at hamlin37@hotmail.com.

The Red Wolves face Southern Durham on Friday night at 7:30.

Cedar Ridge Boys Basketball Coach Clay Jones Talks Northern Vance Win

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Cedar Ridge’s Dmonte Kinney Discusses Game-Winning Shot vs. Northern Vance

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Dmonte Kinney wasn’t sure his first game-winning three-pointer was going to go in. He hadn’t made a trey all night.

But he found the right time to be the hero.

Trailing 36-34 with :36 remaining, Kinney scored the game-winning basket after an offensive rebound from B.J. Freeman as Cedar Ridge held off Northern Vance 39-36 on Tuesday night at Red Wolves Gymnasium.

Sophomore Terrence Crawford led the Red Wolves with eleven in a defensive struggle. Northern Vance (5-4, 1-1) was held to just 14 points in the first half.

Leading 32-26 going into the fourth quarter, Cedar Ridge couldn’t find the basket in the fourth quarter until the time was right. Leading up to Kinney’s game-winning shot, the Red Wolves only had four points in the opening seven minutes.

Nonetheless, Cedar Ridge earned is now 4-3 overall, 1-1 in Big 8 play. That looks a lot better than last year’s 0-4 in the conference play with a senior-laden team featuring Payton Pappas, the school’s all-time leading scorer.

“We focused tonight on trying to get off to a better start and get a win,” said Cedar Ridge Coach Clay Jones. “We’ve started out playing a lot of games at home. You have to win at home in this conference.”

Kinney finished with seven points, while Khalil Barnett was held to seven.

Jones continues to employ a three-guard lineup, even though none of the backcourt regulars are seniors. Freshman Mekai Collins has started every game.

“I don’t know who’s going to show up each night,” said Jones. “We don’t have what a lot of other people have. We’ve got guys who are going to get six, eight, eleven, ten points. Tonight was Dmonte’s night. He’s been a good defensive presence for us.”

Cedar Ridge will have it’s final game of a eight-game homestand to start the season against Southern Durham on Friday night at Red Wolves Gymnasium. The Red Wolves were the only Big 8 team to defeat the Spartans during the regular season last year.

“I hope they’ve forgotten that part,” said Jones.

CEDAR RIDGE 39, NORTHERN VANCE 36

NORTHERN VANCE: Laquad Holden 3, Malik Glasco 4, Noah Seward 5, Kenton Pettaway 1, Kalin Jackson 4, Jacolby Williamson 4, Thomas Townes 6, Zion Copeland 6, Deiondre Palmer 3.

CEDAR RIDGE: Dmonte Kinney 7, Khalil Barnett 7, Terrence Crawford 11, Tahjai Hill-Wells 4, Mekai Collins 6, Colby Cashaw 2, B.J. Freeman 2.