DURHAM - For a basketball team that had some trouble navigating road trips earlier, East Chapel Hill is beginning to master the ins and outs of away games this season in the Piedmont Athletic Conference.

East Chapel Hill overcame some erratic play mid-game Friday with a strong second half, using two big 3-pointers late in the fourth period and then three straight free throws with 5.4 seconds left in the game to escape Durham Jordan with a 61-58 win.

"Every road win in a tight conference like this is a blessing," East Chapel Hill head coach Ray Hartsfield said. "It doesn't matter if you win by 1 or 21; you take it and move on to the next one."

The lone blemish in conference play so far for the Wildcats (14-3, 6-1) has been a stunning 74-54 road loss at Durham Riverside. Since that game on Dec. 15, East Chapel Hill has won seven out of eight overall, including double-digit road wins in conference play at Southern Durham and Roxboro Person.

Friday night's game at Jordan (9-6, 2-3) was much closer.

East Chapel Hill squandered an early 21-14 lead and trailed 40-31 after Jordan's Tyrone Thorpe popped in a 3-pointer from the corner with 3:30 left in the third quarter. The 'Cats were still down 43-39 with 51 seconds left in the period after Devin MacArthur's put-back basket and free throw.

Thorpe, Jordan's top scorer with 16.7 points per game, lit up East Chapel Hill for 25 points Friday. But many of those came when East's Greg Alston was on the bench with three personal fouls. When Alston got back in and marked Thorpe, Jordan went without a basket for 6:04 midway through the second half and tried to survive on a diet of free throws. East Chapel Hill scored on five of its first six possessions of the fourth period, and tied the game 51-51 on a runner by Aaron Law with 4:17 remaining.

Two 3-pointers 30 seconds apart, by Randall Davis and then Bryson Gibson, put East Chapel Hill ahead 57-53, and the 'Cats never trailed again.

Jordan tied the game one last time, 58-58, on a layup by Joreal Bennett with 39 seconds left. East Chapel Hill spread the court and held for a last shot. When Law pulled up at the arc, he was fouled with 5.4 seconds left.

"I tried not to think about anything else but the free throws," said Law, who also wanted to make amends for two fourth-quarter turnovers at midcourt. "I just wanted to clear my mind of everything and just knock them down."

Law's last three free throws gave him a team-high 21 points

East Chapel Hill gets a chance to make up its half-game deficit against Riverside (15-2, 6-0) when it hosts the Pirates on Tuesday in Wildcat Gym.

"It doesn't matter who you're playing in this conference. They're all tough games," Law said. "No one is a 'gimme' in this conference."

East Chapel Hill 61, Jordan 58

ECH	21	6	14	20	--	61
JOR	14	18	11	15	--	58

EAST CHAPEL HILL (14-3, 6-1)

Aaron Law 21, Randall Davis 12, Bryson Gibson 9, Gabe Strathern 6, Rusher Pope 5, Greg Alston 5, M.Mangum 2, Ross Whisenant 2.

JORDAN (9-6, 2-3)

Tyrone Thorpe 25, Joreal Bennett 10, J.Bowden 7, Williamson 5, D.McArthur 5, S.Selig 2, M.Flowers 2, M.Gaylord 2.

Jordan girls top ECH

CHAPEL HILL Michelle Wood had just finish addressing her team when she pointed out the obvious to her assistants inside her office.

"We just can't knock down our shots," she said. "We just can't buy one."

Halfway through her 14th season as East Chapel Hill girls basketball coach, Wood is still trying to get her young squad to be consistent offensively, a battle they lost on Friday night.

Jordan defeated the Wildcats 40-34 on Friday night at Wildcats Gymnasium behind 13 points from Kristen Lyon. The victory also completed a regular season sweep by the Falcons (9-7, 2-3), whose two victories over East represent their only conference wins of the year. Lisa Couper and Aileen Savino paced the Wildcats with nine points on a night where points were at a premium.

After opening the game with consecutive field goals, the Wildcats were held to eight points and three field goals during the second and third quarters.

Jordan point guard Attiana O'Neal, who finished with 10 points, was excellent in dictating the point in the Falcon's matchup zone, where East struggled to find any open looks. Not coincidentally, the only East offensive surge following the first quarter came after O'Neal suffered a game-ending knee injury with 4:03 remaining in the fourth quarter, but by then Jordan already led 37-25, and it was too late.

"Their top scorer is Lyon, who killed us the first time," said Wood, referring to the 25 points that Lyon scored in Jordan's 67-43 victory over East back on Dec. 11. "So we targeting her tonight, but instead O'Neal and (Bayley) Coleman-Cox stepped up and made some big shots. We weren't as aggressive against the zone as we should have been."

East (9-6, 2-5 in the PAC-6 Conference) has struggled to find consistency throughout the season. In victories over Chapel Hill, Riverside and Hillside, the Wildcats found their grove on jump shots by establishing an offensive flow. In their previous game against Person, they shot 21 percent from the field in a loss to the Rockets.

"We vary from game to game," said Wood. "We just don't have the size of other teams in the league. Players like (Jordan's) Rachel McGirt can have a big night against us because we don't have anyone that can defend her. We give up size to every team we play."

- Jeff Hamlin

JORDAN 40, EAST CHAPEL HILL 34

Jordan (9-7, 2-3)

Bayley Coleman-Cox 6, Kristen Lyon 13, Attiana O'Neal 10, Chloe Smith 5, Rachel McGirt 4, Kate Ford 2.

East Chapel Hill (9-6, 2-5)

Lisa Couper 9, Brittany Hartsfield 5, Franny Chung 2, Aileen Savino 9, Hannah Elledge 7, Lilah Sciaky 2.

S. VANCE 70, CHHS 59

Friday at Henderson, conflicting schedules resulted in an extra JV game being played before the varsity contests, and CHHS never seemed to get over the distractions or late start. After the Southern Vance won by double digits in the girls' game, the CHHS varsity boys didn't tip off until almost 9 p.m.

"We just never seemed to get into the game," CHHS coach Tod Morgan said. "We got plenty of good looks, but we just couldn't get anything to drop. The basket had a lid on it for the first three quarters."

By the time CHHS (1-3, 8-6) got uncorked, allowing James Manor to score 21 points and Denzel Ingram 12, Southern Vance (1-3, 2-9) just needed to hit enough free throws to pick up its second win in a week.

CEDAR RIDGE 90, CARRBORO 50

Friday at Carrboro, visiting Cedar Ridge showed no sympathy for the Jaguars' fund-raising efforts and won going away to remain undefeated in 2-A Carolina-9 Conference boys' games. Six different Red Wolves broke double figures, led by Jake Lliteras' game-high 23 points. Sophomore forward Jake Mendys, who along with is family spearheaded Carrboro High's fund-raising for victims of the recent earthquakes in Haiti, topped the Jaguar scoring with 16 points.

CDR	18	29	29	14	--	90
CAR	9	16	17	8	--	50

Cedar Ridge (15-1, 11-0)

Jake Lliteras 23, Julius Graham 14, Josh Pappas 13, Kevin Brown 10, Trai Clark 10, Cam Pappas 10, B.Tilley 6, J.Evarts 4, T.Washington 2.

Carrboro (2-11, 2-6)

Jake Mendys 16, C.Roach 10, A.Knapp 8, N.Omar 5, A.McVeigh 5, S.McKinnon 3, M.Gallagher 2, K.Van Name 1.

ORANGE 57, CARDINAL GIBBONS 55

Alberto Muñoz scored 20 points and Joe Vance 14 to help do Northern Vance a favor Friday night with Orange's 57-55 victory over Cardinal Gibbons. That gave every other team in the 3-A Carolina-6 Conference at least two league losses -- except Northern Vance. The Vikings were 13-3 overall, 7-0 in conference after Friday's 67-58 win at Oxford Webb.

CGB	13	14	9	12	7	--	55
OHS	8	13	15	12	9	--	57

Cardinal Gibbons (7-10, 2-2)

Alberto Muñoz 20, Joe Vance 14, P.Brown 8, A.Shafer 4, K.Haskin 3, M.Bennett 2, E.Albright 2, C.Dixon 2.

Orange (8-9, 2-2)

Jeremy Ruffin 13, R.Jones 11, D.McCulley 8, T.Brown 8, Q.Jones 6, D.Torrain 5, N.Jackola 3, J.Kenion 2, D.McIver 1.