CHAPEL HILL - Having coached younger teams over the past three years, East Chapel Hill's Ray Hartsfield has grown used to uphill climbs at the beginning of boys' basketball season in the 4-A PAC-6.

A 4-4 start in 2007-08 did little to mitigate East's misery from '06-07, when a painfully young Wildcat team lost its first eight games. Last year, the Wildcats started 0-4 against league opposition.

But now, the good news for East is that its deepest and most experienced team in recent history won't start the New Year at the bottom of the PAC-6 standings.

The Wildcats were 6-1 overall, 1-0 in conference play, after a 59-50 victory Friday over Jordan at Wildcat Gymnasium in East's PAC-6 Conference opener. Junior Randall Davis led the East scoring with 17 points while senior Aaron Law added 14 points.

Jordan (5-2) played without second-leading scorer T.J. Thorpe because of a broken knuckle on his shooting hand, suffered against Orange. The Falcons were led by Jamel Bowden with 16 points.

"This is a big win for us,"said Hartsfield, whose team defeated Chapel Hill 61-54 on Friday night in their final nonconference tune-up. "Any time you win your first conference game, it's important. The first six games of the nonconference season are meant to prepare you for tonight, and I think we were ready."

Hartsfield found time to tinker with his team's rotation through the first month of the season, using as many as 13 players in the opener against Cedar Ridge. Now, he's settled into a steady 10-man rotation, with little drop-off in the backcourt.

When starters Law and Gabe Strathern give way to backups Michael Wolf and Ross Whisenant, the Wildcats don't suffer on either end of the floor.

Guard play was crucial Tuesday night at CHHS, where Law scored 16 points while Chapel Hill's Denzel Ingram was held to 4. And it was just as crucial against the up-tempo Falcons, who got their fair share of points in transition.

But the difference between this East team and past squads is their offensive versatility. Hartsfield hasn't abandoned his trademark half-court game -- anchored by Rusher Pope, Bryson Gibson and Whisenant -- but Law, Strathern and Greg Alston can provide plenty of scoring on the fastbreak.

"This is the deepest team I've had in a while,"said Hartsfield. "I knew coming into this year we could have some depth, because I've coached a few of these players before at the varsity and junior varsity. They understand the fundamentals."

East never trailed Friday and there was only one tie, which came when Jordan's Thomas Sumpter scored on a lay-up late in the first quarter. East's Davis responded with a three-pointer to give the Wildcats a 12-9 lead. Jordan went without a field goal for the first 4:09 of the second quarter, and East extended their lead to 21-12 after a trey from Michael Mangum, his only points of the game. Bowden nailed a jumper at the first half buzzer to narrow the East lead to 28-21 at the half.

In the third quarter, Jordan's Terrell Bennett hit a 3-pointer with 5:37 remaining to draw the Falcons within seven at 33-26, but Law triggered a 7-0 run with a lay-in off a feed from Alston, dishing an assist to Davis for a 3-pointer, then creating a steal on the defensive end to score on a lay-in while getting fouled. That gave East its largest lead of the night at 43-27.

The Wildcats make their first conference road trip Tuesday night at Riverside.

CHHS bounces back

Chapel Hill showed little signs of a letdown after Tuesday's home loss to East Chapel Hill. The Tigers (4-1) bolted out to a 35-23 halftime lead on visiting Southern Nash and rolled to a 62-56, nonconference victory Thursday night.

Stephen Wistner led CHHS with 15 points and James Manor added 14 before fouling out. The Firebirds (0-2) rallied some in the second half with five 3-pointers, but CHHS hit its last eight free throws to ice the win.

"I was glad to see the guys so ready to play - and they really were ready. We had a very good first half against a team that's very athletic,"CHHS coach Tod Morgan said, noting the Tigers allowed the Firebirds only one offensive board in the first two quarters. "They've got great length and love to crash the boards, so that was very good competition for us. We're going to see a lot more teams like that in our conference."

CHHS has a week to work on its game before its next outing, Friday in a rematch at East Chapel Hill.