Jeff Hamlin

There have been two disturbing patterns so far this season for Hillsborough’s basketball teams.

For Cedar Ridge, it’s been an inability to push out to big leads when they have an opponent on the ropes.

For Orange, it’s been faltering down the stretch.

Both teams fell victim to those patterns again on Tuesday night.

For Cedar Ridge, it may cost them a chance to make the state playoffs. Chapel Hill defeated the Red Wolves 75-67 in Hillsborough, sending the Red Wolves to 0-4 in the Big 8. Peyton Pappas led Cedar Ridge with 30 points. Forward Jacob Thomas, who transferred from Chapel Hill, added 20 points.

CHHS has a guard-oriented lineup, but still found a way to get to the foul line 27 times. Elijah Haynes scored 19 points to lead the Tigers, who improved to 5-7, 3-0 in the Big 8. Freshmen Ben Gaynes and A.J. Thompson added 16.

Cedar Ridge is now 7-7 with a home game coming up Friday against Northwood.

Southern Durham, now 4-0 in the Big 8, defeated Orange 85-77.

The Panthers led 57-55 going into the fourth quarter, but Southern out scored Orange 30-20 in the final frame.

Connor Crabtree led the Panthers with 28 points and seven rebounds. Coaches from High Point and Appalachian State were in the gym to watch Crabtree, who received a scholarship offer from Lehigh last month.

The Panthers ( turn right back around to face Northwood on Thursday night, then travel to Chapel Hill on Friday. Orange is now 5-7, 2-1 in the Big 8.

Winter break was a rest in name only for the Orange Wrestling team. During the holidays, the Panthers competed in the Tiger Holiday Classic at Chapel Hill High, the Eagle Invitational at Eastern Alamance High and hosted the Orange Winter Duals last weekend.

It was during the latter event that the Panthers suffered its first dual losses of the season, both matches coming down to the wire. The Swansboro Pirates defeated Orange 34-28. With three matches remaining, the Panthers led 28-16 after Payton Wilson pinned the Pirates’ Andre Hill in 2:57. Swansboro scored pins at 285 and  113, along with a major decision at 106 to become the first team to beat OHS this season.

Orange’s subsequent 67-7 victory over rebuilding Sanderson wasn’t a formality as much as proof that there’s a first time for everything. It was the first time Orange coach Bobby Shriner coached against one of his sons. Nic Shriner, who graduated from Appalachian State last spring, is now the head coach of the Spartans, who has captured the CAP-8 championship the last five seasons. The dual match features victories by Orange’s Lucas Riley, Christopher Lopeman, Mario Manduiano, Lawrence Bell, Evan Pasley (via pin fall) and Levi Anderson.

Later in the day, Southeast Guilford knocked off the Panthers 35-33. The Falcons scored three pins to earn the win. Orange capped the day with a 63-11 victory over Greenville Rose.

Now the focus is on the Webb Warriors, who visit Jim King Gymnasium tonight at 6. Orange is 16-2, 2-0 in the Big 8 after a thrilling 38-36 victory over Northwood on December 16th.

Among the grapplers who have stood out thus far for Orange is senior Joe Scott at 152, who is 23-3 with 14 pins. Sophomore Bailey Hawkins is 24-5 with 13 pins at 120 (and several matches at 126). Heavyweight Dayles Alston is 24-6 after scoring two pins last weekend. Wilson, who started the season a few weeks late after football season bled into the opening wrestling workouts, is 22-5. He finished in 3rd place at 220 at the Tiger Holiday Classic.

Also tonight, the Cedar Ridge Red Wolves face Chapel Hill at Red Wolves Gymnasium. Cedar Ridge fell to Orange in its last Big 8 dual match. The Tigers figure to be the main challenger remaining for Orange for the Big 8 Conference Championship.

As the Christmas trees and decorations come down, Orange and Cedar Ridge will pick up action tonight in the Big 8 Conference.

For the Red Wolves, tonight’s home game against Chapel Hill is simply a must-win.

Cedar Ridge is 0-3 in league play, which isn’t how Coach Clay Jones expected to start. With Chapel Hill transfer Jacob Thomas providing a low-post scoring punch with Jonathan Hall, along with the backcourt play of Peyton Pappas, the Red Wolves figured to be fighting with Southern Durham and Northwood for the Big 8 lead.

Instead, Cedar Ridge (7-6) lost its conference opener to Orange on December 11th 71-67 behind 32 points from Connor Crabtree. Pappas missed the subsequent game against Northern Vance, a home loss where the Red Wolves were sluggish without its leading scorer.

After a 2nd-place finish in the Clinton Christmas Tournament, Jones immediately started scouting the Tigers. Chapel Hill (4-7) lost all three of its games in the South Granville holiday tournament, but is 2-0 in the Big 8.

This is the roller coaster part of the season for both teams. After a week off for Christmas, CRHS played two games in two days in Clinton. They have home games against Chapel Hill and Northwood this week, then don’t play again until January 19 against Orange.

“I think our guys are focused,” said Jones. “It’s all hands on deck. Chapel Hill is a must-win because we can’t expect to be at the top of this conference and be 0-4.”

Orange faces three games in four days. Tonight, it’s Southern Durham in Hillsborough. On Thursday, consecutive road trips to Northwood, followed by Chapel Hill the following night.

The Panthers (5-6, 2-0) is coming off a 5th place finish in the Holiday in the Pines tournament, where they defeated New Life Christian Academy and Charlotte Olympic in the final two days. Orange opened with a 105-96 loss to Richmond County on the first day, where Connor Crabtree scored 43 points.

Southern Durham (3-0), Orange and Chapel Hill (2-0) are tied for first place in the loss column in the Big 8. The Spartans wasted little time in becoming the front runners in the league by claiming road wins over Northwood (85-55) and Oxford Webb (71-54). The Spartans are led by guard J’Tori Christmas, who averages 15.1 points per game. Antonio Daye averages 13.4 points per game.

Tonight’s game will be a test for the Panther backcourt. The Spartans have multiple 3-point options, and Orange has struggled to find consistent guard scoring with the absence of Eryk Brandon-Dean. Orange will likely opt for a slower pace of play with Crabtree and center Logan Vosburg.

Hillsboroughsports.com will broadcast Friday’s game between Orange and Chapel Hill starting at 7 from Tiger Gymansium.

Cedar Ridge Coach Clay Jones Talked about the Loss to Clinton and the critical game against Chapel Hill this Tuesday.

In the end, Cedar Ridge head coach Clay Jones thought the Red Wolves played one of its best games of the season on Wednesday. It just wasn’t enough to beat Clinton.

The Dark Horses rallied from a 70-67 deficit with 1:38 remaining by scoring the last five points to defeat Cedar Ridge 75-70 in the final of the Clinton Christmas Tournament at Faison Gymnasium on Wednesday in Sampson County. E.J. Howard led Clinton with 18 points, including a key 3-point play with 1:02 remaining where Kahlil Barrett was called for a block. Howard’s subsequent free throw gave Clinton a 72-70 lead.

Entering the fourth quarter trailing 57-55, Cedar Ridge took the lead with 2:30 remaining after a 3-pointer by Barrett. Peyton Pappas followed with a steal and lay-in to push the advantage to 70-67. In its final five possessions, CRHS was called for a 3-second violation, missed two free throws, and misfired twice from the field.

Pappas led Cedar Ridge with 28. Barrett, a sophomore, added a career-high 16 points.

Clinton took a 45-35 lead after a 3-pointer by Howard with 6:57 remaining in the third quarter. Then Barrett, who was held scoreless in the first half, went to work. He hit consecutive 3-pointers on consecutive possessions to whittle the lead to 45-41. Jacob Thomas responded with a 10-footer and the Clinton lead was down to 45-43. Jonathan Hall completed the 10-0 run after collecting a feed from Khalil Hill to tie the game at 45.

Not only did Barrett score 16 points in the second half, he took three charges.

Barrett joined the CRHS varsity last season as a freshman.

“I didn’t cut him any slack,” said Jones. “He seems to have his best games when teams are pressing us, and running and jumping. He knocked down some big shots tonight and I was real pleased with his effort.”

Pappas and Thomas, who scored 16 points in CRHS’ win over C.B. Aycock on Monday, were included on the All Tournament team. Howard was named Most Valuable Player.

Similar to how Southern Durham attacked the Red Wolves, Clinton pressed full-court for much of the game and played 12 players. With Ikell Knowles out with an injury, Jones brought Shawn Hill up for his varsity debut during the tournament.

“That’s our M.O.,’ said Jones. “We didn’t handle pressure early in the season against Person. That led to a loss. We didn’t handle pressure well against Northern Vance. That led to a loss. Tonight we had a few mistakes. We’re constantly working on it.”

With the holiday tournament over, Cedar Ridge now sets its focus on trying to recover from an 0-3 Big 8 Conference start. With a beginning like that, Jones isn’t in the mood to watch bowl games for the rest of holiday break.

Instead, he’ll be over in Creedmoor on Wednesday morning scouting Chapel Hill, who are playing in the South Granville Holiday Tournament. The Tigers come calling to CRHS on Tuesday night.

“It’s a must-win for us,” said Jones. “We can’t go 0-4 and expect to be in the top of this conference.

Elsewhere, Orange (4-6) defeated Charlotte Olympic 68-48 in the consolation round of the Holiday in the Pines Tournament in Southern Pines on Wednesday. The Panthers play Fayetteville’s New Life Christian Academy in the 5th place game on Wednesday.

Going into the Clinton Christmas Tournament, Cedar Ridge was in need of answers.

Following a 6-2 start, the Red Wolves dropped its first three conference games against Orange, Northern Vance and Southern Durham. After a 10-day layoff, Cedar Ridge found its footing on Monday in Sampson County.

The Red Wolves defeated C.B. Aycock 59-46 in the first round. Peyton Pappas scored 24 points while Jacob Thomas added 16.

Cedar Ridge will face Clinton on Tuesday night at 6:30 for the tournament championship. You can hear that game here on Hillsboroughsports.com. We’ll have a link posted on the front of the page for streaming.

Meanwhile, Orange competed in the Holiday in the Pines Tournament in Southern Pines, and threatened to blow every fuse off the scoreboard in its game with Richmond County.

The Raiders came out on top over the Panthers 105-96. Connor Crabtree lit it up for Orange, scoring a career-high 41 points.

As was the case against Riverside, Orange built a double-digit second half lead only to lose it down the stretch. The Panthers started the second half on a 10-0 run to take a 62-51 lead with 6:19 remaining in the third quarter. Richmond responded with a 20-10 run to cut the deficit to 72-71 at the end of the third quarter.

Orange’s last lead was 87-86 with 4:54 remaining, but the Raiders finished the game on a 18-10 run to earn a 2nd round matchup against Mt. Zion.

Orange will face Charlotte Olympic at 2PM tomorrow in the consolation round. Mt. Zion defeated the Trojans 59-48.

Another impressive outing for Payton Wilson in a sophomore season that’s been full of them.

Wilson finished third at the Tiger Holiday Wrestling Classic on Wednesday. After dropping his initial match to eventual 220-pound tournament champion Evan Surgeon, Wilson responded with wins over South View’s Cade Smith (6-1) and Chapel Hill’s George McBurney (3-1) to take the consolation round.

Wilson is now 22-6 going into the heart of the dual match season. Five months removed from a broken ankle suffered on the first day of football practice, Wilson discusses how he prepared for the interminable first day of the Tiger.

If there’s a positive for Orange’s Joe Scott going into 2016, it’s that he knows who he has to beat to claim the elusive 3-A state championship at 152 pounds.

Scott knows Eastern Alamance’s Mitchell Dean very well. The two wrestled only a month ago at the Jim King Inivtational, with Dean earning a 4-2 victory in the championship. Dean was named the Most Outstanding Wrestler in the tournament.

Scott got a rematch on Wednesday in the Tiger Holiday Classic in the 152 semifinals. It was another match where points were at a premium. Dean’s takedown in the 2nd period was the only of the match. All Scott could muster was an escape point, and Dean again prevailed 2-1.

However, Dean didn’t walk out tournament champion. Asheboro’s Sawyer Davidson defeated Dean 7-3 I the title match.

Meanwhile, Scott claimed major decisions over Newton Conover’s Jacob Hardee (13-2) and Ragsdale’s Alejandro Illescas (10-2) to earn 3rd place.

In his four career appearances at the Tiger Holiday Classic, he finished 3rd, 3rd, 4th and 3rd. Some may consider that a success. Scott believes otherwise.

He heads into 2006 with a 20-2 record, but feels like there’s plenty of room for improvement.

Two weeks ago, Ultimate Fighting Champion interim lightweight champion Connor McGregor stepped into the Octagon with an entire nation in his corner.

It’s fair to say he carried the hopes of the nation on his back. Jamar Davis can relate.

The 170-pound sophomore for the Orange wrestling team was slated for the Panthers’ final bout in a heated dual match against Northwood. McGregor carried a nation on his back. Davis, in his first season wrestling regularly for Orange’s varsity, was carrying Orange’s hopes for a 14th consecutive conference championship.

Northwood’s Michael Queen had just scored a pinfall victory to vault the Chargers into a 36-34 lead. Which meant Davis had to win against Northwood’s Luke Orbich, or else the Chargers would be the ones to end Orange’s long dominance in the Big 8.

Davis stood up to the challenge, scoring a majority decision in a 19-4 victory. Orange took the dual match 38-36 to improve to 14-0, 2-0 in the Big 8 with a vital match against Chapel Hill coming in January.

Davis is 18-7 with eight pins this season. He captured three victories at this week’s Tiger Holiday Wrestling Classic.

He’s also a rare three-sports athlete. He plays soccer in the winter and track and field in the spring.

If the holidays are near, that means the Tiger Holiday Classic isn’t far behind. It’s also the end of a busy, wild week for the Orange Panther wrestling team, which placed two grapplers in the semifinals at the end of a long first day.

The 22nd Tiger Holiday Classic started Tuesday at Chapel Hill High School.

At 152 pounds, senior Joe Scott advanced to the semifinals, where he will face a familiar face in the semifinals tomorrow. Scott takes on Eastern Alamance’s Mitchell Dean, who defeated Scott in the Jim King Invitational last month. Dean captured the 152-pound championship and earned Most Outstanding Wrestler of the tournament.

On Tuesday, Scott started with a pinfall victory over George Wythe’s (VA) Teion Brown in :37. He scored another pin in the second round over Croatan’s Charles Corbell in 4:51. Scott punched his ticket to Wednesday’s semifinals with an 18-4 major decision over Holly Spring’s Elijah Geniesse, improving to 21-2 on the season.

At 220, sophomore Payton Wilson rolled into the semifinals following a pair of victories. After receiving a bye into the 2nd round, Wilson pinned Mason Wagner of Pinecrest in 1:57. He followed that with a pinfall victory over Chapel Hill’s George McBurney in 2:50. McBurney finished fourth at 220 last season.

Wilson faces Southeast Guilford’s Evan Surgeon (23-0) on Wednesday morning. The championships will take place at approximately 4 PM.

After the first day of the 46-team event, Orange is 7th in the overall standings with 89 points. Cedar Ridge, with ten wrestlers participating, is 32nd.

Eden Morehead is first with 131 points. Jack Britt, the defending Tiger champions, is 2nd with 101. Southeast Guilford is 3rd with 98.

The first day of the Tiger is among the longest days of the season, especially for those who win their opening matches but lose in the third round, forcing them to compete in consolation rounds well into the night.

At 126, Orange’s Jamison Askew will compete for third place Wednesday morning. Askew opened with a 5-0 victory over Carson Pervier of William Hough. He followed with a 8-6 decision over Northwood’s Ian Anderson. West Brunswick’s Harrison Campbell, who entered the tournament 21-0, pinned Askew in :41.

Forced into the consolation bracket, Askew rebounded by pinning Greenville Rose’s Phifer Ozimek in 4:00. Askew, now 21-7, faces Britt’s Bradley Wanovich next.

At 195, Orange’s Shannon Thompson also has a chance at a third-place finish. He was forced into the consolation bracket after a pinfall loss to Northwood’s John Dunning in 5:36. Dunning was the 195 champion at the King Invitational. Thompson defeated Asheboro’s Nathan Otero in 1:22 in the first round, and followed with a 5-3 decision over Carrboro’s Nathanie Otero.

In the consolation bracket, Thompson defeated Southeast Guilford’s Michael Johnson 6-4. He will take on Tyshawn Olverson of Morehead High on Wednesday morning. Thompson is 23-7.

Also alive for Wednesday’s consolation round is Orange’s Josiah Ramirez. He stared the day with a pin of William Hough’s Austin Boyd in 2:37. Then he scored a major decision over Charlotte Providence’s Jake Reid 14-3. Northwood’s Hunter Queen knocked Ramirez into the consolation round with a 16-7 victory. He rebounded by beating Jordan’s Maliik Marcin to improve to 18-5.

Cedar Ridge’s Jacob Tutor started the day with consecutive wins at 138. He defeated Austin Curry of Asheboro 12-9, and reached the quarterfinals after winning an injury decision against Logan Mills of George Wythe. Tutor fell in the following round to Britt’s Wesley Hollingsworth via pinfall.

The only Red Wolf that will compete on Wednesday will be Darius McLeod at 106. McLeod won four matches on Wednesday, including three in the consolation round. He reached the consolation semis by pinning Apex’s Gabe Baragona in 2:52. He faces Austin Hunt next.

Orange sophomore Bailey Hawkins captured victories in his first two matches. He’s now 25-6.

Cedar Ridge’s Grady Pritchard won his opening match at 152 over Northwood’s William Mishoe, a pinfall in 1:49. He fell in the 2nd round to Sawyer Davidson of Asheboro.