Cedar Ridge Coach Clay Jones sat back looking at the scorebook, sitting on a table while sipping a Diet Coke with chuckling with his assistants.
“We were due,” said Jones after Cedar Ridge had defeated its crosstown rival Orange for the first time since February 2015. But he wasn’t talking about the rivalry against their crosstown rivals.
Cedar Ridge is now 4-13, but it could easily be better. On Wednesday night, the Red Wolves shot 67% from the field, led Southern Durham 62-49 going into the fourth quarter, only to watch the Spartans roar back and win 73-72.
Two Fridays ago, Hillside edged the Red Wolves 60–59. In both games, Cedar Ridge had a shot to. Win at the end, but fell short. Though they started 1-10 and Jones privately admitted to reporters in November that they were looking up at everyone else in the Big 8, his team has never stopped fighting.
That was crystal clear on Friday night. Though the Panthers didn’t have guards Mekai Holt (suffered an injured foot against Hillside) and Mitch Portman (suffered a concussion against Hillside when he took a knee to the head), they were still the same team that had defeated the Red Wolves seven straight times.
Cedar Ridge came away with a convincing 55-38 victory. Terrence Crawford added 13 points while John Vaughn added eleven.
Without Portman and Holt, Orange Coach Greg Motley essentially started guard Joey McMillian with three forwards and center Kendall Whitted. Ryan Sellers, usually a power forward, was slotted as a point guard. Marquis Phelps had a hot hand early, showing surprising range when he knocked down two jumpers as Orange bolted out to a 12-5 lead following a three-pointer from McMullin.
In the second quarter, Crawford took over the game with a three-pointer, followed by another trey from Mekai Collins, who finished with a game-high 20 points. The Cedar Ridge defense held Orange to six points in the second quarter. To end the first half, Red Wolf reserve Braxton Mergenthal threw up a reverse layup where he wasn’t even looking at the basket that fell through the next at the buzzer, giving Cedar Ridge a 23-18 halftime lead and sending the Red Wolves student section into a frenzy.
Collins and Crawford opened the third quarter with consecutive three-pointers to push the Red Wolves advantage to 29-18, and it stayed in double digits the rest of the way.
Cedar Ridge (4-13, 2–6 in the Big 8) will return to action at Northern Durham on Tuesday. Orange. (8-10, 3-5), which has lost five of its last six, travels to Northwood on Tuesday.
ORANGE: Marquis Phelps 5, Ryan Sellers 10, Kendall Whitted 2, Morgan Paschall 5, Joey McMullin 8, Eli Haithcock 1, Matt Atherton 5, Zion Pettiford 2.
CEDAR RIDGE: Khalil Barnett 9, Terrence Crawford 13, John Vaughn 11, Mekai Collins 20, Braxton Mergenthal 2.