All Chapel Hill-Carrboro and Orange County system athletic events for Friday and Saturday were postponed this weekend because of the snow and ice that hit Friday. That included -- including CHHS and Carrboro basketball games and the Bob Mauldin Wrestling Classic.

Chapel Hill High School has rescheduled the games with Cardinal Gibbons for Wednesday, Feb. 10, at the original times: JVs at 6 p.m. and varsities at 7:30 p.m. The Chapel Hill girls are scheduled to play in Raleigh, and the Cardinal Gibbons boys’ teams will travel to Chapel Hill for the Carolina 3-A Conference games on that date.

East Chapel Hill, conveniently, had open dates Friday night.

Good Wins, Bad Timing

For Chapel Hill’s boys’ team (11-6 overall, 2-3), the snow started falling at an inconvenient time. The Tigers were on a roll. Having completed one-half of its home-and-away schedule against Carolina-6 Conference opponents, CHHS had won three straight and four out of its last five games.

“We’re heading into the crucial stretch for our team right now,” CHHS coach Tod Morgan said. “We told the team earlier in the week, ‘We’ve got five games left in conference, and those will determine whether or not we go to the state playoffs.’ I think they understand.”

CHHS, Orange and Southern Vance are tied for third place presently in the Carolina-6, behind Northern Vance (5-0) and Gibbons (3-2). Webb is 1-4.

Only four conference teams will advance to the state tournament.

“Two good basketball teams are going to be left behind when the post-season starts,” Morgan said.

The Tigers seem to have found their footing after some narrow losses. Simple mistakes — like 4-for-15 free-throw shooting in a one-point loss at Cardinal Gibbons.

Last week, CHHS hit 25-of-38 free throws in a physical, 69-62 conference win against Orange, and then 7-of-9 in a 53-37 victory over Northern Durham.

Denzel Ingram and James Manor lit up Orange for 24 and 21 points respectively. Manor had 12, Chris Gillespie 11 and Denzel Robinson 10 in a balanced attack against Northern.

‘Cats slip some against Riverside

At Wildcat Gym last Tuesday, Durham Riverside put itself squarely in the driver’s seat with a 60-55 PAC-6 win over East Chapel Hill. The victory keeps the Pirates undefeated in the conference and in sole possession of first place with five games left in the regular season.

"I don’t know if it’s a lock," Riverside coach Tim Ross said. "We have a lot of basketball left to play, but the guys are playing extremely well."

The Wildcats (14-4, 6-2) had lost just one conference game -- a 74-54 road defeat to the Pirates on Dec. 15 -- and were looking for revenge and a first-place tie.

But the Pirates (17-2, 8-0) had too much size, speed and quickness for the Wildcats to keep pace.

Riverside was led by forward Tevin Richardson, who pulled down 19 of the Pirates’ 38 rebounds. East Chapel Hill had a total of 27 rebounds. On offense, Jarod Belvin (20 points) and Anthony "TJ" Warren (13 points, three blocks) led the way for the Pirates.

Warren scored all of his points in the fourth quarter to keep the Wildcats at bay.

"It was very intense out there," he said. "But we felt like we had the advantage with our guards. We’ve been preparing all season for this. It feels good."

Trailing 29-18 at halftime, the Wildcats made a mini-run in the third quarter to close to four back at the start of the final period. But Richardson was unstoppable, scoring the Pirates first seven points of the final period and going 9-for-9 at the free throw line.

East Chapel Hill, which couldn’t find its shots from the perimeter, could never get closer than seven points after that.

Aaron Law and Randall Davis scored 12 points apiece for the Wildcats.

"We’re dependent on our guys shooting from the perimeter," East Chapel Hill coach Ray Hartsfield said. "They attacked us on the glass and just played aggressive ball. I picked Riverside to win it. They are just deeper, more athletic and more talented. They present a lot of problems."

Girls rule

The East Chapel Hill girls made up some ground in the PAC-6 with a 53-43 win Tuesday at Riverside. Lisa Couper led the way for East Chapel Hill (10-6, 3-6) with 19 points. Hannah Elledge scored 13. Caitlin McMannen had 17 and Maddie McCallie 15 for Riverside (6-13, 2-5).

Tuesday in Hillsborough, Bria Berry-Holly had one of her better nights for the Panthers — and that’s saying something about the reliable shooter — with 26 points in Orange’s 65-41 win over Chapel Hill. Chelsea Moore added 10 points to help OHS improve to 10-7, 6-2 in the Carolina 2-A Conference. Sophie Pruden led CHHS with 17 points, while Rachel Harrison had 10.

Contact the Chapel Hill News Sports Department at chnsports@nando.com.

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