When a team that regularly plays three freshman loses at the buzzer against a top-10 regional opponent, chances are they’ll learn something from it.
When that same team loses again at the buzzer the very next day, then it’s a crash course.
That’s what happened to the Orange men’s basketball team last week against South Granville (ranked #7 in 2A East Region) and the next day against Sanderson (ranked #4 in 4A East). On Tuesday night, mired in a five-point hole early in the fourth quarter to its crosstown rival, the young Panthers showed they took the lessons painfully delivered to them in Creedmoor and learned them well.
Orange (11-6, 3-1 in the Central Carolina Conference) defeated Cedar Ridge 57-47 at Red Wolves Gymnasium on Tuesday night. The freshman tandem of Coleman Cloer and Kai Wade combined to score all 20 of Orange’s points in the fourth quarter. Cloer finished with 25 points. Wade finished with 17 points, ten in the fourth quarter.
“This was a tough game,” said Orange coach Derryl Britt. “It’s a conference game against a crosstown rival. That can be a tough situation when you have a lot of young players. They haven’t played in a lot of these game and learn how to block out all the noise. Facing Cedar Ridge is a lot to overcome for younger guys. Towards the end of the game, we did what we’ve been trying to get back to which is Kai and Coleman being the closers.”
Cedar Ridge (3-7, 0-3), playing for the first time since December 16, received a huge game from senior Colton Taylor, who scored 21 points.
“Captain Colt is someone everyone on the team rallies around,” said Cedar Ridge head coach Mike Jones. “I didn’t think the whistles evened out in the end, but I’m not one to make excuses. I’m proud of the way our team fought. It would have been nice to play before December 16 and it would have been nice to practice yesterday. We’ll get better with this game.”
In the final minute of the third quarter, Cedar Ridge’s Landon Dalehite drained a three-pointer from the corner to even the game. Jonovan Wingate took a skip pass from Taylor to sink another 3-pointer to give the Red Wolves a 37-34 with :05 remaining. Cloer calmly took the subsequent inbounds pass and sank a 21-footer at the buzzer to even the game going into the fourth quarter.
The Red Wolves bolted out to a 42-37 lead with 6:00 remaining in the fourth quarter. Harrison Perel took a bounce pass from Corin Wingate and laid it in. After Cloer missed a three-pointer, Taylor knocked down a three-pointer.
Orange outscored the Red Wolves 20-5 down the stretch. Freshmen Kai Wade and Coleman Cloer scored all 20 of the Panthers points in the fourth quarter. Cloer drove past Taylor under the basket for a lay-in with 4:55 remaining. After the Red Wolves missed its own lay-up, Cloer dropped in a finger roll to tie the game 42-42.
Perel took a jump pass from Jonovan Wingate and gave the Red Wolves its final lead off a lay-in. Cedar Ridge’s foul trouble caught up with them in the final minutes as Perel, Taylor and Luke Orstad all fouled out. Wade tied the game off two free throws, then the Panthers’ Darius Corbett stole the ensuing inbounds pass, which led to Orstad’s fifth foul. Cloer’s split two free throws to put the Panthers ahead 45-44 with 3:34 remaining.
Wade drew another foul and knocked down two more from the charity stripe to put Orange ahead 47-44. Perel came back with a baseline jumper with 2:27 remaining. Wade went around a screen from fellow freshman Mason Robinson to sink a 15-foot baseline jumper.
After a Cedar Ridge turnover, Wade put the dagger in when he buried a pull-up 15-footer to put Orange ahead 51-44 with 1:06 remaining.
While Cloer and Wade carried the load for Orange in the fourth quarter, the Panthers were more balanced in the first half. Five Panthers scored in the first half. Cedar Ridge’s half-court defense held Orange in check during the second quarter. The Red Wolves scored only five points in the second quarter, all from Taylor, but still trailed by only two points, 20-18, at halftime. Taylor had nine points in the first half.
At one point, Taylor scored seven consecutive Cedar Ridge points from the start of the second quarter to the middle of the third until Luke Orstad scored on a lay-in.
It was the first Orange-Cedar Ridge game for Jones, who was named head coach of the Red Wolves in November. After Britt lost four straight game to Cedar Ridge in 2019-2021, he has now beaten the Red Wolves three straight times.