There aren’t many secrets about the success Cedar Ridge Men’s Basketball has sustained in the early stages of the 2019-20 season: as Mekai Collins goes, so go the Red Wolves.
Locked in a tight contest between two desperate one-win teams that flashed tenacity and desire throughout and staring down a seventh-straight loss, the Red Wolves needed their star senior to deliver. A season-high 25 points, including a near-flawless day from the foul line, half a dozen assists, a few steals, and some masterful clock wasting later, deliver he did. A year removed from a season where the Red Wolves managed just one win in 24 tries, a 10-0 Cedar Ridge run late in the fourth quarter sealed off the second Red Wolves victory in eight tries this year, as Cedar Ridge (2-6, 0-1 Big 1) fended off a gutsy Durham School of the Arts (1-7) Bulldog team 56-47 on Tuesday night in Hillsborough.
This was an odd game from the get-go. Both starting fives came out to the floor as usual, and KJ Barnes was ready for the opening tip to come at any moment, but the referees sent both teams back to their huddles because DSA, unbeknownst to anyone, had gotten new jerseys within the last week and failed to update their online rosters – only about a quarter of the Bulldog roster was actually wearing the numbers they had been assigned preseason. Once the confusion was cleared, the Bulldogs came out strong, knocking down a pair of threes and celebrating in front of the Cedar Ridge fans en route to a 14-10 first quarter advantage. But Cedar Ridge flipped the script in the second, limiting the Bulldogs to only five points in the period and establishing a 23-19 halftime edge.
The previous night, Cedar Ridge kept within striking distance of Chapel Hill for most of the contest but never could complete the comeback against the Tigers’ tough defense. On this night, the Red Wolves became the instigators – DSA’s Justin Glover hit a 3 early in the fourth to get the Bulldogs to within 41-39, but Cedar Ridge locked it down from there for their 56-47 victory.
A very young DSA team showed plenty of reasons why they could be loads better than last year’s four-win side, but the Bulldogs couldn’t string together enough offensive possessions to come back. Guard Josh Pope kept DSA in the contest almost single-handedly early with nine of his team’s 19 first-half points, but once Glover and DSA standout Isajah Deburgo woke up after halftime the Bulldogs looked loads better. Deburgo and Glover, DSA’s two most reliable scorers this year, combined for 23 points on five made threes, but 16 of those points came after the break, and by then, Collins and Cedar Ridge had built up a lead DSA couldn’t crack.
Collins was the driving force in the victory for Cedar Ridge, but, like usual, he got some contributions from Cedar Ridge’s deep stable of options. Andrew Altieri and Grayson Ramos each hit critical threes in the second half. Derrick Smith was a force on the offensive glass, cleaning up misses and securing putbacks all evening as part of his ten-point outing. And Barnes, who didn’t record a point and ended up fouling out, still played a huge role by securing a couple of key defensive boards in the fourth to help Cedar Ridge bleed the clock.
Next up for the Red Wolves is a date with undefeated South Granville, which is fresh off an impressive win over Orange on the other side of Hillsborough on Tuesday. But for now, a year after even one win was far from a sure thing, the Cedar Ridge men can enjoy what was a hard-fought second victory of this year.
For the Cedar Ridge women, Tuesday’s tilt against DSA represented a prime chance to bounce back from Monday night’s setback against Chapel Hill. The Bulldog women at 4-3 were frankly the most successful of the four teams on display Tuesday – no other team had more than one win on the year – but DSA had been far from convincing even in their wins and were without their best player, Precious Ogboko, a sophomore center averaging 20 points and 11 rebounds per game but didn’t even make the trip to Hillsborough.
But still without Tori Dalehite and Isabella Flynt, and now without starting center Caitlin Lloyd, Cedar Ridge was playing shorthanded as well. Even still, the Red Wolves started out much better than they did against the Tigers, hitting a couple of foul shots to pull to within 16-10 early in the second. But then Lindsay Suitt got hot. With Ogboko out, the true freshman guard Suitt emerged as the leader of a super young DSA team that sports only one senior, erupting for a career-high 25 points to lead the Bulldogs to what turned into a comfortable 49-33 victory over Cedar Ridge.
On the other side, Cedar Ridge looked improved offensively, albeit against an inferior defense than Chapel Hill’s, and shot 58% from the line, much better than usual, to keep the score close for much of the contest. Most significantly, Takia Nichols delivered the game of her young Cedar Ridge career. Starting in place of Lloyd, the sophomore center notched 10 points, all in the second half, and secured 11 rebounds, including five on the offensive end, for her first career double-double. The Red Wolves’ losing streak has hit 11, but they’ll have their best chance at their first win this year when a winless South Granville team that just got waxed by Orange comes to town on Thursday.