Zach Manley’s fast break layup at the start of the second quarter gave Eastern Randolph the lead for good and the Wildcats held off a third-period comeback attempt by Chatham Central before outscoring the Bears 22-16 in the final frame while clawing their way to a 56-46 non-conference triumph Monday night on the winners’ court.
Manley notched 15 points and Landon Collins fired in four three-pointers to finish with 12 as Eastern Randolph won its season-opener after connecting on 22-of-59 (37%) of its field goal attempts and outrebounding the Bears 37-26 while turning the ball over 11 times.
Michael Moore topped Chatham Central, which slipped to 0-2 overall, with 15 points and Jamieon Degraffenreaidt added 11 as the Bears shot 19-of-57 (33%) from the floor while committing a dozen turnovers.
After the Wildcats snapped an early 6-6 stalemate on Kaemen Marley’s lob dunk with 3:34 left in the initial stanza, a Lucas Skertich trey from beyond the top of the key a minute later triggered a 5-2 quarter-ending Chatham Central burst that gave the visitors from Bear Creek an 11-10 advantage.
But Manley’s basket at the 7:02 mark of the second period then kindled a 10-0 Eastern Randolph run highlighted by back-to-back Collins three-pointers as the Wildcats opened up a nine-point lead with 4:40 left in the second quarter and maintained that advantage (26-17) at halftime.
The Bears fought back to creep within 32-30 on Degraffenreaidt’s trey from behind the top of the key with 42.1 seconds remaining in the third quarter before Zion Warner’s put-back in the lane 22 seconds later gave Eastern Randolph a four-point lead heading into the final frame.
Chatham Central still only trailed by four (37-33) following Nik Wilson’s layup with 6:36 to go in the contest prior to consecutive treys by Manley and that ignited a 14-2 Wildcats’ run over the next four minutes to give Eastern Randolph an insurmountable 51-35 advantage.
The Bears managed to trim the difference to 53-43 on Degraffenreaidt’s three-pointer from the left wing with 37.3 seconds to play before another Degraffenreaidt trey was offset by J.B. Farrish’s three-pointer from the right wing in the time remaining to seal the Wildcats’ victory.
CC 11 6 13 16 – 46
ER 10 16 8 22 – 56
Chatham Central (0-2) – Cheek 2 1-2 5 MMoore 7 0-0 15 Wilson 2 0-0 4 Degraffenreaidt 4 0-0 11 Skertich 3 0-0 8 Dodson 1 0-0 3 Fuquay 0 0-0 0 Lagenor 0 0-0 0 Gray 0 0-0 0 Gaines 0 0-0 0 Gurley 0 0-0 0. Totals 19 1-2 46.
Eastern Randolph (1-0) – JJones 2 0-0 6 CMoore 0 0-0 0 Marley 2 3-6 7 Luther 2 1-2 5 Manley 7 0-0 15 Warner 4 0-0 8 Snotherly 0 0-0 0 Collins 4 0-0 12 AJones 0 0-0 0 Farrish 1 0-0 3 IKidd 0 0-0 0 Stevens 0 0-0 0. Totals 22 4-8 56.
Halftime-Eastern Randolph, 26-17. Three-point goals-Chatham Central 7-26 (Degraffenreaidt 3-7, Skertich 2-5, MMoore 1-7, Dodson 1-7): Eastern Randolph 8-25 (Collins 4-6, JJones 2-9, Manley 1-1, Farrish 1-2, IKidd 0-1, Luther 0-2, Snotherly 0-4). Fouled out-None. Rebounds-Chatham Central 26 (MMoore 7); Eastern Randolph 37 (Marley 16). Turnovers-Chatham Central 12; Eastern Randolph 11. Total fouls-Chatham Central 6; Eastern Randolph 7.