Entering Tuesday night, Cedar Ridge coaches, players and fans had done a lot of waiting.
Red Wolves Coach Jaison Brooks was just itching to play a game.
It had been 21 days since his Cedar Ridge Red Wolves had taken the floor in a 70-42 loss to Northwood in Pittsboro.
For Cedar Ridge players, they just wanted to beat an Orange team that, just three weeks ago, was 7-1.
Many of them had struggled through a 1-23 season last year. And the year before that, they were 4-20.
None of the Cedar Ridge players were in high school the last time the Red Wolves won at Orange. On January 20, 2015, Payton Pappas hit a 15-footer with one second remaining to give the Red Wolves a 63-61 victory over the Panthers.
They aren’t waiting anymore.
Cedar Ridge outscored Orange 27-10 in the fourth quarter, shooting 11-of-13 from the field in the final eight minutes, to topple Orange 66-55 at a packed Panther Gymnasium on Tuesday night. Mekai Collins, who led Orange in scoring last season, paced the Red Wolves with 29 points.
Cedar Ridge (3-8, 1-2 in the Big 8 Conference) ended a 24-game Big 8 Conference losing streak. The last time the Red Wolves won a Big 8 Conference game, it was January 26, 2017, when they defeated Orange 55-38 at Red Wolves Gymnasium. That was also Cedar Ridge’s last victory over its crosstown rivals before Tuesday.
Jerec Thompson had 13 points to lead Orange, who dropped its fifth straight game. The Panthers played without guard Jason Franklin, who missed his third straight game with a bad back. It was also their second game without senior center Machai Holt, who was dismissed from the team for disciplinary reasons on Friday.
Holt watched from Orange’s student section Tuesday night.
Orange took a 37-24 lead with 6:02 remaining in the third quarter after a 3-pointer from junior Kendrell Brooks. The Panthers, who lived by the three-pointer in the opening two months, missed their next 12 shots from beyond the arc.
Cedar Ridge ended the game on a 42-19 run in the final 14 minutes. Collins scored 21 points in the second half against his old team.
“We got down because we missed some shots,” said Cedar Ridge Coach Jaison Brooks. “We had some bad defensive possessions. We knew if we could fix those things, we could get back into the game. The crew we put it did just that. They stepped in and stepped up the defensive intensity. They were able to knock down some shots.”
After Jared Wood drained a 15-foot jumper to put Orange ahead 47-43 early in the fourth quarter, the Red Wolves went on a 6-0 run to take its first lead since it was 5-4 in the opening minutes. After senior K.J. Barnes split two free throws, Collins took a skip pass from Cameron Harper and drained a 3-pointer to tie the game.
Collins found Derrick Smith, who played the final minutes with four fouls, off a transition basket to give the Red Wolves the lead 49-47. After Kyle Stanley and Brooks notched consecutive field goals to five Orange a 51-49 lead, Harper hit a driving lay-up to tie the game, then Collins drained a 3-pointer to put Cedar Ridge ahead for good.
In the final four minutes, Orange shot 1-for-8 from the field. Smith put a cherry on top of a very tasty ice cream sundae with a 3-pointer with 1:14, naturally off an assist from Collins.
In the fourth quarter, Cedar Ridge hit all nine of its shots from 2-point range. They were 2-of-4 from behind the arc.
“We got totally out of character in the fourth quarter,” said Orange coach Derryl Britt. “It was not mature basketball. We got frantic. I think as Cedar started to run and get back in the game, we started to press. Then we got away from playing team basketball. It became ‘Let me beat my guy.’ They didn’t do very well for us.”
Orange led 31-21 at halftime after Joey McMullin banked in a 3-pointer from 25-feet at the second quarter buzzer. It was McMullin’s only 3-pointer of the game. The Panthers shot 6-of-27 from outside the arc.
Cedar Ridge will travel to Granville Central on Wednesday night, then host Northern Durham on Friday.
Orange will host Northern Durham on Thursday, then welcome Chapel Hill to Hillsborough on Friday.
CEDAR RIDGE 66, ORANGE 55
CEDAR RIDGE–K.J. Barnes 12, Chris Tinnen 3, Cameron Harper 8, Derrick Smith 9, Grayson Ramos 3, James Ragland 1, Mekai Collins 29, Grady Ray 1.
ORANGE–Jerec Thompson 13, Kendrell Brooks 8, J.J. Thompson 2, Kyle Stanley 6, Joey McMullin 11, Tucker Miller 6, Jared Wood 7, Hunter Birch 2.
3-Pointers: Cedar Ridge 5 (Collins 3, Smith, Harper) Orange 6 (Je. Thompson 3, Brooks, Woods, McMullin)
FOULED OUT: Cedar Ridge-none. Orange (Miller, McMullin).