The Cedar Ridge men’s basketball team, fighting for a spot in the state playoffs, defeated Franklin Academy 56-42 at Red Wolves Gymnasium on Thursday night. Without forward Luke Orstad, junior Hayden Kirk earned his first start of the season and had seven points. It was a big night for junior center Harrison Perel, who had a career-high 14 points. Coming off Tuesday’s close loss to Orange, the Red Wolves opened slow from the field, scoring just one field goal in the opening 12 minutes. After Colton Taylor scored on a field goal while being fouled, the Red Wolves went on an 11-0 run down the stretch of the first half to take the lead. Perel had three field goals down the stretch of the first half. Colton Taylor finished with 12 points while Jonovan Wingate had ten points as the Red Wolves earned its first win of the calendar year 2023. Cedar Ridge went into the game ranked #33 in the MaxPreps 3A East region rankings, putting them right on the bubble for the 3A State Playoffs. Cedar Ridge, looking for its first trip to the state playoffs in six years, will continue their pursuit for the postseason when they travel to Eastern Alamance tonight. You can hear that game tonight on Hillsboroughsports.com starting with the women’s game with Jon Franklin at 6PM.