Orange High School

BURLINGTON–If Braden Crawford was going to win the Central Conference championship, he had to finish it fast.

That was the message from his father after a blood stoppage of nearly five minutes at Walter Williams High School on Saturday afternoon. In the opening minute of the 126-pound tournament championship match against Southern Alamance’s Cameron Aiden, Crawford shot in for a takedown. Aiden wound up lifting Crawford up and briefly had his back over his shoulders. Crawford fell onto the mat face first and stayed there until the referee halted the action.

There was blood on the mat and Crawford didn’t move for a few seconds. It appeared possible that he would be unable to continue and Aiden would be declared the winner. But Crawford was fitted with a mask that shielded his nose.

If the match went beyond the first period, Crawford may not have been able to go on. So he aimed to finish it as quickly as he could. Despite his new head gear impeding his vision, Crawford scored a quick double-leg and earned the pin on Aiden at 1:28. He stayed long enough for the trophy presentation, then left for a nearby hospital to treat what was likely a broken nose.

Crawford, now 29-2 with 20 pins, earned his 20th pin of the season. He repeated as the 126-pound champion of the Central Conference. Last year at Orange High, Crawford pinned Williams Zy’Aire Priester of Williams in the championship match.

The championship round was filled with dramatic finishes. Orange’s Andre Hill officially defeated Zeke May of Western Alamance 4-3 to win the 175 pound championship.

If only it was that simple.

Hill, the top seed with an overall record of 39-2, ended the second period even with May at 2-2. Hill started the final frame from the bottom and finally earned an escape point with 1:20 left to go ahead 3-2. Hill nearly got a reversal but May escaped out of the circle. With ten seconds remaining, May shot in for a takedown and appeared to have a change in position that would have given him a 4-3 lead. Even Hill had a look of resignation on his face and he tried to balance out in the final seconds.

But the officials never made a signal for two points and the clock ran out, infuriating the Western Alamance bench who immediately protested. While Hill was declared the winner, he admitted afterwards that May was the rightful winner.

“Honestly, it probably should have been two,” Hill said. “I thought it was a bad call and I told him (May) that. I told his coaches that. I wanted to let him know he deserved credit for that.”

May defeated Hill 7-6 in the 170-pound championship last year at Orange.

On the day, Orange finished fourth in the team standings.

Juniors Logan Scarantino and Aidan Sierra each finished second in their respective weight classes. At 113 pounds, Scarantino pinned Gavin Smith of Western Alamacne in 30 seconds to earn a trip to the championship match. Tavern Moss of Person defeated Scarantino 7-1. Scarantino is 25-9 with 14 pins this season.

In the 120 pound tournament, Sierra opened by pinning Riley Neil of Southern Alamance in 4:16. Sierra nearly scored the pin in the opening period, scoring five back points in the second minute. Sierra led 7-0 after the opening two minutes.

Sierra held off Julian Combs of Person 9-8 in the semifinals. Combs opened with the first four points, including scoring the only near fall of the match. Sierra scored two reversals in the second period and led 8-4, but Combs scored a takedown just 17 seconds into the final stanza. Sierra got an escape to go up 9-6 and held on while Combs got a late takedown, but couldn’t press any further.

The Orange High swimming record book now looks really repetitive.

On the women’s side, it just says “Katie Belle Sikes’ over and over. Going into her Senior Night meet at the Orange County Sportsplex on Thursday night, the only school record that Sikes hadn’t broken was the 100 yard breaststroke.

Naturally, that one was the next to fall.

Racing in the pool where she has trained nearly every day and honed the skills that made her the most successful swimmer in Orange High history, Sikes set a new record of 1:06.53 in the breaststroke. Sikes now holds the school record in all eight individual events. Earlier this month, she set a new mark in the 100 yard butterfly.

Sikes also won the 200 yard freestyle (1:59.62) on Thursday.

In addition, it was also Senior Night for Cedar Ridge’s Nikhil Agans and Catherine Latham. Agans, who finished fifth in the 100 yard freestyle in the 3A State Championships last February, won the 100 on Senior Night at 51.61 seconds. His teammate, freshman Chris Seawell, came in second at 54:32. Both automatically qualified for the 3A Central Regional Championships.

Agans also qualified for regionals by winning the 100 yard breaststroke at 1:09.37. Orange’s Benjamin Sirgany came in third at 1:21.21.

Latham teamed with Sophia Stinnett, Hala Zafar and Quinn McCrimmon to finish second in the women’s 200 yard medley relay at 2:15.69, earning consideration for regionals.

In a quad meet that also included Western Alamance and Walter Williams, the Orange men’s and women’s teams each earned three head-to-head wins to close the Central Conference season undefeated. The Orange men defeated Williams 124-19, defeated Cedar Ridge 103-51 and handled Western Alamance 120-24.

The Orange women held off Cedar Ridge 103-63, defeated Williams 104-40, and routed Western Alamance 109-30.

The Cedar Ridge men won over Williams 82-26 and defeated Western Alamance 77-34. The Cedar Ridge women defeated Williams 103-49 and won over Western Alamance 103-45.

For the Orange men, senior Nick Baczara teamed with Luke Roman, Ayden Twiddy and Alex Andre to win two relay events: the 400 yard freestyle and 200 yard medley relay. In both cases, they qualified for regionals

Boczara also won the 200 yard freestyle at 2:04.59.

Orange junior Alex Andre captured two first place finishes individually. He touched the wall first in the 200 yard individual medley at 2:04.69. He also won the 50 yard freestyle at 24.06 seconds, beating out Western Alamance’s Eamon Hipps (24.30). Chris Seawell of Cedar Ridge came in third (24.88), also qualifying for regionals.

Last season, Andre finished third in the 500 yard freestyle in the state championships.

Orange’s Ayden Twiddy won the 500 yard freestyle at 5:49.23.

Orange junior Luke Roman captured the 100 yard backstroke at 58.26. Last year, Roman finished 4th in the 200 yard freestyle in the state championships.

The Cedar Ridge Men’s 200 yard freestyle relay team qualified for regionals and finished first on the night. Agans, Phillip Cauwels, Jacob Olmstead and Seawell came in at 1:43.25. Orange’s team of Noah Jones, Colin Wuthrich, Andrew Jouannet and Dylan Cowan finished 2nd at 1:46.21.

Orange women’s senior Riley White won two events. She captured the 50 yard freestyle (26:09) and the 200 yard individual medley (2:19.00), earning spots in regional for both events.

Cedar Ridge junior Sophia Stinnett, a junior who finished sixth in the 2023 state championships in the 500 yard freestyle, won the 100 yard freestyle at 57.54 seconds.

Orange junior Piper White won the 100 yard butterfly at 1:04.33. Cedar Ridge’s Quinn McCrimmon finished second at 1:06.11, while Orange’s Zoe Jones finished 3rd.

The Cedar Ridge women’s 200 yard freestyle relay team of Sarah Latham, McCrimmon, Zafar and Stinnett won the event and earned a spot in regionals at 1:55.26. Orange’s Claudia Sadgrove, Ainsley Rasinske, Molly Kruse and Zoe Jones came in 2nd at 1:59.81.

The Orange women’s relay team of Sikes, Ainsley Rasinske, Piper While and Riley White, who won the state championship in the 200 yard freestyle relay last year, won the 400 yard freestyle on Senior Night at 4:04.01. Cedar Ridge’s Catherine Latham, Sarah Latham, Sierra Godfrey and Emily Habib finished seconds.

Two prominent members of the Orange lacrosse team signed were part of a massive signing day last month. Long stick midfielder Alden Cathey signed with Division III Arcadia University in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. Midfielder Josh Crabtree signed with Division III Methodist University in Fayetteville. Cathey has been a prominent part of three conference championships for Orange since he joined the lacrosse team as a freshman, which was the pandemic year of 2020. Orange won the Conference 9 Championship and reached the state quarterfinals in the 3A/2A/1A State Playoffs. Last season, Cathey was third on the team with 78 ground balls as the Panthers went undefeated in Mid-Carolina Conference play. For the second year in a row, the Panthers hosted the 3A/2A/1A Eastern Regional championship game. Cathey has also qualified for the 3A State Cross Country championship meet in men’s cross country twice and has won two Mideast Regional championships with the Panthers. Crabtree scored the first goal of the regional championship game against Northwood last season. In 2023, Crabtree scored 20 goals and 32 points. Crabtree scored five goals in the state playoffs. On March 14, Crabtree had a hat trick in a 15-0 win over Cedar Ridge. On March 17, he had another hat trick against Seaforth as the Panthers prevailed 18-5. Crabtree has been a member of the varsity team for three years. As a sophomore, Crabtree registered 18 goals. That included another hat trick against Cedar Ridge on march 15, 2022, which Orange won 11-9. Cathey and Crabtree will be in uniform again next month when Orange starts its season against Apex on February 26 at Auman Stadium in Hillsborough.

Orange lacrosse’s Alden Cathey & Josh Crabtree discuss signing to play in college

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Though the Orange men’s and women’s swimming teams will celebrate its Senior Night at the Orange County Sportsplex, there won’t be much in the way of finality for the five seniors.

Next Wednesday, the Sportsplex will host the Central Conference Championship meet, which will give Katie Bells Sikes, Riley White, Harper Trost, Dylan Cowan and Ben Sirgany a chance to bid a proper farewell.

Last week, Sikes added another mark to her lengthy resume when she set the school record for the 100 meter butterfly, completing the course in 56.40 seconds. She broke the previous record that had stood since 2011. Sikes won in a meet against Chapel Hill, Jordan and Northern Durham at the Homestead Aquatic Center in Chapel Hill.

In the men’s meets, Chapel Hill edged Orange 123-118. Jordan defeated Orange 159-103. The Panthers won over Northern Durham 155-86.

In the women’s meets, Orange defeated Northern Durham 153-57. Chapel Hill held off Orange 159-98. Jordan defeated Orange 165-100.

Sikes also won the 100 yard backstroke, touching the wall at 1:00.69. For the second year in a row, Sikes has qualified for regionals in all individual events. She will be allowed to compete in only two of them, most likely the 50 yard and 100 yard freestyle. She is the defending 3A State Champion in both events, winning the 50 yard freestyle in 2022 and 2023.

In addition, sophomore Piper White set her best time of the season in the 100 yard freestyle. She qualified for regionals when she touched the wall at 58.90 seconds, good enough for a fourth place finish.

Orange’s women’s relay team of Sikes, White, Riley White and Ainsley Rasinske, who won the 3A State Championship in the 200 freestyle relay last year, finished first once again at 1:54.69. Jordan’s team came in second at 1:57.36.

Sikes, White, White and Rasinske also won the 200 yard medley relay with a time of 1:45.38.

Riley White qualified for regionals in the 500 yard freestyle with a season-best time of 5:39.76, finishing third. She also qualified for regionals in the 100 yard breaststroke at 1:13:04, just finishing behind the winner, Chapel Hill’s Alena Volpe (1:12.45).

Orange junior Alex Andre qualified for regionals in two events. In the 200 yard freestyle, Andre finished at 1:51.05, finishing third overall. Andre also registered a third-place finish in the 100 butterfly at 56.25 seconds, third overall. Northern Durham’s Chris Erickson finished first at 53.84 seconds.

Sirgany also qualified for regionals in the 200 individual medley, finishing third at 2:27.50. Orange junior Luke Roman, who has already qualified for regionals in the 200 IM, came in second.

On January 4, Orange defeated Walter Williams at New Millennium Fitness Center in Mebane. The Orange men won 123-20, while the women won over the Bulldogs 85-36.

Among the highlights for the men was Alex Andre automatically qualifying for the 200 individual medley. Andre also teamed with Roman, Nick Baczara and Noah Jones to win the 200 yard medley relay at 1:57.98, which earned them a trip to regionals at the Greensboro Aquatic Center.

Roman, who finished in the top eight in the state championships in the 500 yard freestyle last year, won the 50 yard freestyle at 24.39 seconds. It was the first time that Roman earned a spot in regionals for the 50 freestyle. Roman also won the 100 yard breaststroke.

In the women’s meet, Zoe Jones won the 200 yard freestyle at 2:18.34. Jones also earned a spot in regionals in the 100 yard butterfly with a time of 1:11.66, finishing only behind Sikes.

Piper White also qualified for regionals in the 50 yard freestyle, winning the event at 27.15 seconds.

In the 500 yard freestyle, Nick Baczara won the event, touching the wall at 5:52.59. Ayden Twiddy of Orange finished second.

Following the conference championships on January 24, the Central Regional Championships will be held on February 3 at the Greensboro Aquatic Center, where Orange raced last month during the Robert Sawyer Invitational. The State Championships will be held on Thursday, February 8 at the Triangle Aquatic Center in Cary.

Last year, Sikes was named the Most Outstanding Swimmer of the 3A State Championships after winning two individual state championships, along with a relay state title with White, Rasinske and White.

Last month, Orange senior Ryan Honeycutt formally signed to play baseball at Division II Lenoir-Rhyne University. Over the past two years, Honeycutt has been a steady presence for Orange’s baseball and basketball teams. Last year, Honeycutt alternated between catcher and designated hitter for an Orange team that won its third straight Central Conference championship. They reached the state quarterfinals and won 25 games, the most by any Orange team since 2013, when they won 27 games. Last season, Honeycutt hit .304 with one home run and 14 RBIs. Honeycutt hit his home run in a 12-2 win over Cedar Ridge. Honeycutt also went 3-for-4 in the Central Conference Tournament championship game against Walter Williams, which Orange won 9-4. Honeycutt also had an RBI single in the third round of the State Playoffs against Cape Fear, where the Panthers scored five runs in the first inning and never looked back en route to the state quarterfinals. Honeycutt has also been the starting center for the past two years for the Orange basketball team. He has had five double-doubles this season. In the opener against Hillside, Honeycutt had ten points and 13 rebounds as the Panthers defeated Hillside. Last week against Cedar Ridge, Honeycutt had ten points and ten rebounds in an 82-54 Orange win. In two years with the varsity baseball team, Honeycutt has won two conference championships. Now, he’s gunning for one on the hardwood. Orange men’s basketball will resume its season against Eastern Alamance on Tuesday in Hillsborough. 

Orange senior Ryan Honeycutt signs with Lenoir-Rhyne baseball

Last month, Orange senior Ryan Honeycutt formally signed to play baseball at Division II Lenoir-Rhyne University. Over the past two years, Honeycutt has been a steady presence for Orange’s baseball and basketball teams. Last year, Honeycutt alternated between catcher and designated hitter for an Orange team that won its third straight Central Conference championship.

Orange 56, Reidsville 36: Evelyn George finished with 22 points as was named the Most Valuable Player of the Martin Luther King Invitational at Reidsville High School as Orange defeated the Rams on Saturday. George also had seven steals and five rebounds.

Orange improved to 10-5. Sophomore point guard Maura McMurtry added 15 points, five assists and five rebounds.

Shannon Murphy finished with seven points and eight rebounds as Orange won its second game in less that 24 hours.

Orange 53, Person 25: Defense led the Orange women to its fifth straight win over Person. The Lady Panthers registered 24 steals, led by McMurtry with seven thefts, while holding the Rockets to one field goal in the second quarter.

McMurtry paced Orange with eleven points and seven steals. George posted ten points, five rebounds, six steals and two blocks as Orange went into exam break tied with Western Alamance and Eastern Alamance for first place in the Central Conference with a 4-1 record.

Cassie Jay paced the Rockets with 13 points, but Person was plagued with 32 turnovers. Jay hit a jumper to put the Rockets up 7-6 with 3:21 remaining in the first quarter, but Orange went on a 7-0 run to take the lead for good. Murphy scored off a steal from center Marshea Byrd to start the spurt, which was capped by a three-pointer from George off a feed from McMurtry.

Orange guard Natalie Roberson finished with a career-high seven points, including a three-pointer off a pass from Murphy to put Orange ahead 20-9. Alexis Stephens, in her first start, scored off a stickleback basket. Jay scored Person’s only field goal of the second quarter with 41 seconds remaining, but Marshea Byrd scored off a lay-in off a pass from George to put Orange ahead 27-11 at halftime. Orange shot 7-of-12 from the field in the third quarter.

Orange sophomore Addie Atkins, who finished with seven points, scored off a three-pointer early in the third quarter off a pass from McMurtry.

Orange will return home to face Eastern Alamance on Tuesday. The Panthers defeated the Eagles in the seventh place game of the Southeast Alamance Holiday Hoops Invitational on December 30 in Haw River.

Eastern Alamance 39, Cedar Ridge 35:  In a showdown for first place in the Central Conference, the Eagles used its size to defeat Cedar Ridge in Hillsborough.

Aliya Trollinger hit a free throw with 1:34 remaining in regulation to put the Eagles ahead for good. Moments earlier, Cedar Ridge freshman Calla Lundberg tied the game with a three-pointer to tie the game with 1:39 remaining in the fourth quarter.

Cedar Ridge guard Amiyah Ware paced the Red Wolves with 24 points. The Red Wolves were fighting uphill the entire night after the Eagles stormed out to a 16-5 lead at the end of the first quarter.

Ayanna Garner paced the Eagles with ten points. Center Makayla Thompson finished with nine points and 16 rebounds as the Eagles maintained its share of first place in the league.

Eastern Alamance out rebounded the Red Wolves 54-45. Cedar Ridge still grabbed 16 offensive rebounds. The Eagles took an 18-8 lead after Thompson scored off a pass from Trollinger with 5:07 remaining in the first half. The Red Wolves cut its deficit to 18-16 after Ware hit consecutive 3-pointers to end the first half.

The Red Wolves built a 26-22 lead late in the third quarter after a 3-pointer from Ware off a skip pass from Utley, who finished with four assists and 14 rebounds. Freshman Kate Finnegan scored a bank shot to give the Red Wolves’ its largest advantage, but Thompson scored on an old fashioned three-point play while getting fouled by Ware.

Ware scored on a lay-in to give the Red Wolves its last lead at 28-26 with 6:19 remaining in regulation. Trollinger tied the game with a field goal off an offensive rebound, and Nicole Hester put the Eagles ahead on a transition bucket assisted by Garner.

Cedar Ridge will travel to Walter Williams on Friday night for a doubleheader.

Photo by Carly Williams 

Two minutes and ten seconds.

For the past three years, the Person Rockets have been the ones asking questions and the Orange Panthers were stuck trying to answer them. Too often, the Rockets size, speed, range and experience would riddle the Panthers into submission.

Until late on Friday night when Orange found the answer….which was two minutes and ten seconds.

A possession that Orange may have never had before and, with a shot clock inevitably on the horizon in North Carolina high school basketball, may never have again. But it led to the Panthers’ first win over Person since 2014.

Orange led 60-56 with 2:43 remaining in regulation when coach Derryl Britt called timeout. Up to that point, Orange and Person had played at a consistent pace which led to sloppiness as the stakes got higher and the minutes fading away. Orange’s Xandrell Pennix had just thrown the ball away that was stolen by Person’s DaeJon Hodge, who immediately turned it right back over when he threw a pass to Lance Clarke that went to the Orange cheerleaders instead.

Britt preached patience to his team in the huddle.

“I told them they weren’t expecting us to run clock here,” Britt said. “And we’re not going to help them by forcing our offense.”

So Kai Wade, Coleman Cloer, Freddy Sneed, Pennix and Malachi Poole (who substituted in for center Ryan Honeycutt) succeeded in gradually taking the life out of Person’s chances. When Orange started the possession, Person’s top scorer, Lance Clarke, had two fouls. Then he picked up his third and fourth fouls defending Cloer.

With 1:18 remaining, Pennix threw a pass out of the right corner to Cloer, who hit Wade on the wing. Wade found an opening in the paint, but stumbled over Clarke’s foot. The whistle and foul on Clarke was his fifth.

And with that, Britt’s plan to suck the life out of the Rockets worked to perfection.

Person simply didn’t have another offensive weapon to rely on and didn’t score in the final 3:43 aside from a meaningless field goal from Hodge in the waning seconds. Cloer drained three key free throws as Orange won 63-58.

Cloer led Orange with 27 points. But the X-factor, pardon the pun, was Xandrell Pennix, who scored 17 points off 5-of-12 shooting from 3-point range. It was the first time in five career games against Person that Pennix finished in double-figures.

Wade finished with eleven points and nine assists.

Clarke led Person with 22 points off 5-of-9 shooting from 3-point range. Hodge was the only other Rocket in double-figures with 12 points.

The win kept Orange tied with Eastern Alamance for first place in the loss column in the Central Conference at 5-0. Person (9-5, 0-3) dropped its fourth straight.

Any Orange win over Person comes the hard way. Friday night was no different. After Orange took home wire-to-wire wins in its opening three games of 2024, they never led in the first half. Person stormed out to a 10-3 lead, behind three-pointers from Clarke and Jordan Lunsford. Pennix drained his first three-pointer off a pass from Cloer, but the Rockets’ C.J. Hunt canceled that out with his own shot from downtown that kicked around the iron three times before dropping in, leading to plenty of rolling eyes along the Orange bench.

The Rockets extended its lead to 26-16 following a three-pointer from Quante Bowman, his only field goal, with 5;57 remaining in the second quarter. Wade started a late Orange run with his own basket from beyond the arc, then moved the Panthers to 26-23 after a lay-in. Clarke and Hodge each sank shots in the final minute of the first half to send Person to the locker room with a 35-30 lead.

Clark and Lunsford extended Person’s lead to 39-30 to open the second half, but Orange’s defense settled in for the remainder of the game. Person hit six 3-pointers in the first half, but were limited to only two in the second.

Cloer went on a personal 7-0 run to move the Panthers within 39-37. After consecutive 3-pointers from Pennix, Cloer hit a free-throw with 2:07 remaining in the third quarter to tie the game for the first time. Following a free throw by Bowman, Wade stole the ball from Hodge and fed Cloer down the floor, who flushed the ball down with one-hand to give the Panthers its first lead of the game.

The game was tied 48-48 going into the fourth quarter. Cloer opened the frame with a 20-footer where he wound up on his back. Person’s Lamont Johnson came back with a stickleback field goal, but Pennix responded with another three-pointer. Clark came back with his own trey, followed by a lay-in from Lunsford to give the Rockets the lead by one.

Pennix drained another big shot off a pass from Cloer to put Orange ahead 57-55, and the Rockets went the subsequent 5:31 without a field goal.

Orange’s last home win over Person was on December 4, 2013, though Person has played inside Panthers Gymnasium only three times since then.

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.