Cedar Ridge Men’s Basketball

What would happen if two crosstown rivals had a classic basketball game and no one showed up?

Chances are, it would look a lot like Orange-Cedar Ridge on Monday night.

The Red Wolves, who trailed 49-31 with 2:34 remaining in the third quarter, went on a 24-7 run to finish regulation and force overtime. From there, Cedar Ridge held off its crosstown rivals 67-66 in overtime to claim its third straight win over Orange.

Among the many things that have been missed during the interminable pandemic, the absence of exhilaration of a packed gym of Cedar Ridge fans watching the Red Wolves erase an 18-point deficit in the span of 5 minute and 53 seconds will certainly be among the most regrettable locally. Instead, the crowd was limited to junior varsity players and a few family members, who will have their own stark memories regardless.

Online records indicate it’s the first time ever that Cedar Ridge has beaten Orange three straight times. In 2014-15, the Red Wolves swept the season series from Orange, but the Panthers won six straight over the next three years.

Cedar Ridge senior Luke Pagnanelli, who suffered through 1-23 season as a sophomore, finished with 17 points and five rebounds. Pagnanelli scored the opening two field goals of overtime, including a stickback basket after he rebounded his own miss, thrown towards the glass so hard it nearly shattered through the backboard.

“I was looking for somebody to pass to,” Pagnanelli said. “it was too late so I just threw it up there, went and got it and threw it back in the goal.”

Cedar Ridge sophomore Neco Clark led the Red Wolves with 19 points.

Orange senior Jason Franklin finished with 20. Once again, the Panthers lived and died with the 3-pointer. They finished 11-of-26 from downtown. Jerec Thompson had 13.

“We have to learn how to win” said Orange Coach Darryl Britt. “I think we had some mental lapses. We were in good enough position to win this basketball game and we didn’t. We should have won this basketball game. We had this game won in regulation and we didn’t seal the deal. We just have to learn how to win basketball games.”

It was Franklin and Clark matched up in the last critical sequence of regulation. With the game tied 56-56, Orange held the ball for a full one minute, 34 seconds. Franklin was isolated with Clark at the top of the key and threatened to drive on him repeatedly, but relented at the instruction of Britt. Once Franklin made his move, he extended his arm and was called for an offensive foul, leading to overtime.

The decision to put Clark in that defensive role was a daring one by Cedar Ridge head coach Jaison Brooks, who is Clark’s father. Franklin is a four-year varsity starter. Clark was in his second varsity game.

“We told him he was on an island by himself,” Brooks said. “It was just him. We just reminded him of the good habits that we try to teach. To move his feet and keep Jason in front of him.”

Leading 33-29 at the half, Orange went on a 16-2 run to open the third quarter and appears to be on the verge of blowing the game open. Jared Wood came off the bench to score all eight of his points in the 3rd quarter, including a 3-pointer off an assist from J.J. Thompson to put the Panthers ahead 49-31 with 2:34 remaining in the third quarter. 

Cedar Ridge scored nine straight points, including three-pointers from Clark and Ian Johnson, but Jerec Thompson drilled a three-pointer at the 3rd quarter buzzer to give the Panthers a 52-40 cushion going into the final stanza. 

Orange was held to four points in the final eight minutes of regulation. Pagnanelli opened the fourth quarter with consecutive three-pointers, including one in transition off a skip pass from Ian Johnson to narrow the Orange lead to 52-46. 

After a field goal from Panther center Kyle Stanley, James Raglnad went on a personal 8-0 run to briefly vault the Red Wolves ahead 56-54. Ragland canned back-to-back 3-pointers, then stuck back a miss by Pagnanelli to give Cedar Ridge a 56-54 lead. Stanley scored off his own offensive rebound to even the game. 

Ragland finished with ten points. 

Orange will travel to defending Big 8 Champion Northwood on Friday. Cedar Ridge travels to Northwood. 

Time will tell whether the first time against Orange for Neco Clark will be the best time, but it was certainly memorable. Trailing by 18 points, Cedar Ridge rallied to defeat Orange 67-66 in overtime. It was Clark’s first game against Orange on the varsity level and he was a huge part in the biggest plays of the game. With the game tied 56-56, Orange held the ball for over one minute trying to get the final shot on regulation. But Clark, a sophomore, drew a charge against Orange senior Jason Franklin with 8.6 seconds remaining. In overtime, Clark scored four points to lead Cedar Ridge with 19 points. it was the Red Wolves’ third straight win over the Panthers and its fourth in the last six games. Cedar Ridge is 1-1 and will travel to Northern Durham on Friday. 

Luke Pagnanelli’s final home game against Orange was one he will never forget. The Red Wolves rallied from an 18-point deficit to defeat the Panthers 67-66 in overtime on Tuesday night at Cedar Ridge Gymnasium. Pagnanelli helped spark the comeback with a key 3-pointer late in the third quarter. Then Pagnanelli opened overtime by scoring consecutive field goals to put the Red Wolves ahead for good. For Pagnanelli, the win was extra sweet as a senior. He lost his first two games to Orange as a sophomore. Cedar Ridge improved to 1-1 after the comeback victory over its archrivals. The Red Wolves travel to Northern Durham on Friday night. 

The Rodcast is back! Our guest is New York Times Bestselling author Jeff Pearlman, the author of the new book “Three Ring Circus: Kobe, Shaq, Phil and the Crazy Years of the Lakers Dynasty.” Jeff spent three years on this project, and just as he was finishing work, Kobe Bryant tragically died in January. In this interview, Jeff discusses what Kobe’s relationship with Shaquille O’Neal, how Phil Jackson handled the big egos to win three consecutive championships from 2001-2003, and how Shaquille related to his teammates. If you’re an NBA fan or a fan of books about complicated relationships among people in the public eye, you’ll want to check out “Three Ring Circus.”

The Rodcast is back! On this edition, we talk with Curran Campbell of Hillsboroughsports.com. Curran is a basketball expert who weighed in on ESPN’s Greatest College Basketball Player of All Time poll from March. Curran, who graduated from Cedar Ridge in 2019, now attends Syracuse University. We also discuss the biggest sports conspiracy that we put stock in, as well as what’s ahead for sports once the COVID-19 pandemic ends. Thanks to Curran for his time!

On this edition of the Rodcast, we’re joined by #1 Johnny Jones and Matt Stradley. Together, we discuss “The Last Dance,” the ESPN documentary about the Chicago Bulls of the 1980s and 1990s. We discuss what we like about the first four parts, the legacy of Michael Jordan, did the team end at the right time? Johnny now attends Golden State Warriors games while following the NBA by the bay. Matt passionately follows all UNC Asheville sports and can be found on ESPN+ for everything from basketball to women’s soccer. Join this fun and entertaining discussion regarding the glory days of the Chicago Bulls.

When Landon Dalehite, Nathan Sorrells, D.J. Norman, Sincere Hanner, Crawford Farmer and Hayden Kirk started playing together as sixth graders at Gravelly Hill Middle School boys basketball team in 2018, they aimed to eventually do something that no other Grizzlies team had done before.

Win the Orange Person Athletic Conference Championship.

It wasn’t just something that no boys basketball team had ever done at Gravelly. With several different sports had won Northern Division championships, no team in any sport at Gravelly had captured an OPAC Championship since 2010.

Together, the boys basketball team won two Northern Division titles at the junior varsity level. This season, they were finally together on the varsity, but their season started with a loss to Culbreth on December 3.

From that point forward, Coach Eric Jeffries created a team motto.

Be homeless and be like homeless people.

“In other words, play like its our last game,” Jeffries said. “Play like we gotta eat that night. If we don’t eat that night, we might freeze. I was trying to get these guys to understand that when you get an opportunity, take advantage of it because they might not be a tomorrow.”

Gravelly didn’t lose again in 2019-2020, winning 12 in a row.

The Grizzlies won the first OPAC boys basketball championship in school history on Tuesday night when they defeated Phillips 45-37 at Grizzlies Gymnasium in Efland. While the eighth graders were the emotional leaders in Gravelly’s suffocating full-court press, it was seventh grader Kai Wade who stole the show.

Wade scored 13 points in a span of ten minutes bridging the second and third quarters to shake the Grizzlies out of an early offensive funk. Wade finished with 20 points to lead all scorers. Dalehite had nine.

Part of the sluggish start from both teams was because of a 75-minute delay when none of the referees showed up at the scheduled game time of 5:15. Gravelly Athletic Director David Hall had to scramble at the 11th hour and 59th minute to talk an official from Roxboro and another from Chapel Hill to work the game on the fly.

Phillips, whose only losses this season came against Gravelly, were led by Janiyus Sharpe with 17 points. Travion Cobb added 14. Trailing 17-12 at the half, Sharpe personally erased the deficit with five unanswered points within 47 seconds of the second half.

Minutes later, Sharpe picked up his fourth foul dueling Dalehite for a loose ball, and the Falcons offense couldn’t get out of second gear without him.

Gravelly built a 12-point lead early in the fourth quarter behind field goals by Kirk and Sorrells. When Dalehite hit Kirk with a no-look pass for a lay-in with 2:49 remaining, the celebration started in the bleachers for many Efland and Cedar Grove residents who had looked afar in recent years at high school state championships teams from Hillsborough and Mebane, but didn’t have a champion to call its own.

Until now.

Before the trophies were handed out and Jeffries cut down the net to hang around Hall’s neck, the eighth graders gathered at the midcourt logo for their last moment together on this floor. When they started playing organized basketball together three years ago, an OPAC Championship at Gravelly Hill was a distant goal.

Now, it was reality and they would savor it.

“Those eighth graders have done something that have never been done here before,” said Jeffries.

GRAVELLY HILL 45, PHILLIPS 37

GRAVELLY HILL: Kai Wade 20, Nathan Sorrells 5, Landon Dalehite 9, Crawford Farmer 3, Hayden Kirk 8.

PHILLIPS: Janiyus Sharpe 17, Travion Cobb 14, Sebastian Borsuk 4, Gavin Southwell 2.