In many instances, basketball can be a true team sport. Collapse defense, tic-tac-toe passing, alley-oops – none of those elements are possible without effort, communication and teamwork. In many instances, strong teams where everyone contributes can win games, and even championships.
But on many other occasions, the sport of basketball can create a star, a player who, nearly single-handedly at times, is the difference between victory and defeat. Other players can deliver good or even great games, sure, but that one (or two in today’s NBA) star is the player the fans, coaches, and other players expect to always deliver. And the brightest stars nearly always do. Picture someone like Jimmer Fredette at BYU, Brittney Griner at Baylor, LeBron James when he went back to the Cavaliers – superstar players who nearly always help their team overcome whatever opposition they face.
Friday night in Hillsborough, the fans inside Red Wolves Gym got to see two more players that fit that kind of bill – Maya Hood and Mekai Collins. Hood dominated after halftime to help Northern Durham overcome one of Cedar Ridge’s best team performances of the season in the women’s game, while Collins dominated throughout to lead Cedar Ridge to its second-straight conference win in the men’s.
It was always meant to be Mekai Collins’ night. He was celebrated pregame for joining the rare group of Red Wolves to have reached 1,000 points in his career earlier in the week, but it had been an up-and-down week for him: the night after he dropped a season-high 29 points against his old friends at Orange, he finished with only four in a loss at Granville Central, a season-low. The question on Friday was a clear one: which form of Mekai Collins (and Cedar Ridge) would come to play? The answer became clear quickly: the former.
A solid Northern Durham team played well in the second quarter, cutting an early Cedar Ridge edge down to 22-20 with strong efforts from football veterans Javion Hart and Anthony Freeman, returning to Hillsborough after wreaking havoc on the gridiron there just a few months prior. But Cedar Ridge scored eight of the final ten points of the second quarter and the first 22 points of the third, and the Red Wolves (4-8, 2-2 Big 8) cruised to a 76-51 victory over the Knights (4-11, 2-4). It was the Red Wolves’ second-largest margin of victory and second-highest point total of the season, after they routed the School of Science and Math in their season opener to match their win total from a year ago.
Collins was his usual dynamic self from the jump, causing turnovers, snagging rebounds, setting up clean looks with no-look passes, and, of course, scoring: still playing deep into the fourth quarter with his team up big, he hit back-to-back threes to give him a career-best 32 points and salt the game away. He hit 12 field goals, including a trio of deep balls, in another stellar all-around outing.
But while Cedar Ridge had the star performer, he wasn’t the only guy on the stage Friday. Freeman delivered 15 points in a strong game for the Knights. Derrick Smith had a nine in a typically solid all-around outing. Ian Johnson turned in one of his best performances of the season with four points and a handful of steals and assists. And had it not been for Collins’ new personal best, Sam Garbee would have stolen the show in the fourth quarter – he hit three field goals for a career-high six points of his own, and his teammates’ reaction to each one epitomized the bond this Cedar Ridge team has. The Red Wolves have now won two Big 8 games in a row, and while they won’t be in contention for the conference’s top spots, a place somewhere in the middle is now there for the taking – if they want to take it.
In a battle of two teams still searching for the first Big 8 Conference win of the season, the Cedar Ridge women’s team turned in perhaps its best overall defensive performance of the season, but Knight star Maya Hood erupted for 14 of her match-high 22 points in the fourth quarter and Phoenix Smith saw her buzzer-beater for the tie swirl around the rim and out, and Northern Durham (5-8, 1-5 Big 8) held on for a 46-43 victory over Cedar Ridge (1-12, 0-4), snapping a six-game Knight losing streak and sending Cedar Ridge to its fourth straight defeat.
It was an end-to-end affair in which neither team led by more than five. Phoenix Smith and Nadia Oswald were both excellent on defense, forcing a few Knight turnovers with their full-court press. Both Oswald and Jacori Walton chipped in ten points, while Catherine Coyle’s seven and Caitlin Lloyd’s six were both career bests. But just like Mekai Collins was in the men’s game, Maya Hood was the difference-maker in the women’s. She only had one field goal in the first three quarters, but she delivered five more in the fourth, including the one that put the visitors up 45-43. Nia Boney hit one of two free throws to provide the three-point edge, and Cedar Ridge tried to draw up a shot for Oswald to tie, but she missed what would have been a long-range two. Coyle dug out the rebound and it fell to Smith in the left wing, but her stepback three to tie clanged off the back rim and went wayward – it was just Smith’s second three-point attempt of the season.
It was a bittersweet end to a great effort from a Cedar Ridge team that has rarely looked hapless in the face of a one-win season. But their best chance at a conference win fell just centimeters short, and, because of how strong throughout this Big 8 conference seems this year, the Red Wolves might not get another chance this good until they play Northern again next month. This time, they were close. Next time, they better be ready.