Motley, Satterwhite lead Orange OT comeback over Cedar Ridge

Sean Motley (10) uses his eyes and body in an attempt to juke Fred Villines of Cedar Ridge (34) in Saturday's overtime comeback win. (Special to The Herald-Sun/Will Okun).

Jawan Chambers of Orange goes up for a shot. (Special to The Herald-Sun/Will Okun).

J.D. Brooks of Orange High School lofts a floating one-hander in the first half Saturday. (Special to The Herald-Sun/Will Okun)

Leave it to the quarterback and a two-minute drill to save the bacon.
Orange High point guard Sean Motley — who doubles as the Panthers’ quarterback in football — almost singlehandedly erased a late Cedar Ridge lead in regulation then saw teammate Gerell Satterwhite score seven straight points in overtime as homestanding Orange nipped its crosstown non-conference rival 60-57 Saturday.
In the girls’ game that opened Saturday’s doubleheader, Kyley Clark (13), Delaney King (11) and Kacia Vines (10) all hit double figures as Cedar Ridge (4-3) took an easy 55-28 win over 1-6 Orange.
Deja Johnson led 3-A Orange with 11 points in the loss. The game was close for the first half, with 2-A Cedar Ridge leading 19-13, but the Red Wolves outscored Orange by a whopping 28-0 in the third quarter to put it away.
The boys’ game briefly appeared headed to a rout as well, but it was a mirage.
Orange (2-5) opened with 11 straight points, eight by Matt Gattis on a pair of 3s and a layup and Cedar Ridge (3-4) didn’t get on the scoreboard until Jahmil Ingram hit a pair of free throws with 27.2 seconds left in the quarter and tacked on a layup at the buzzer to cut it to 11-4.
Eight turnovers and ice-cold shooting proved costly for the Red Wolves in the period. The story remained the same throughout the first half as Cedar Ridge held a 28-17 edge on the boards but also led 14-6 in turnovers and trailed 25-19 at halftime.
Cedar Ridge stopped turning the ball over in the third period, committing only two miscues to Orange’s five, and was within a point 37-36 on a Peyton Pappas make heading into the fourth.
Then the fun began.
Cedar Ridge scored the first five points of the period to grab a 41-37 lead and led 48-44 on a free throw by Kyle Jones with 1:55 left.
Motley, the son of Orange coach Greg Motley, who led Orange to the state 3-AA football semifinals in late November, then came alive.
His brilliant drive and spinning floater in the lane with 1:33 to play cut the lead to 48-46. Cedar Ridge answered with a brilliant play of its own as Jones’ inbounds pass found Jaylin Grady (16 points) alone near his own free throw line. He converted, was fouled and made the free throw for a 51-46 two-possession lead with 1:30 left.
A free throw by Orange’s Keegan Crabtree made it 51-47 and Cedar Ridge followed with the first of two key errors. Pappas turned it over on a five-second violation while Cedar Ridge tried to milk the clock.
Motley was fouled and hit both to cut the lead to two with 58.7 to play.
Jones then looked to Fred Villines at midcourt trying to replicate his earlier long ball to Grady, but Villines traveled while making the catch, turning it back to Orange.
Motley found Brandon Frye for a layup to tie it at 51 and stole it back as Cedar Ridge tried to set up for a game-winning shot. Motley’s pass to fellow football player Jalen Pittman set up a go-ahead layup with 14 seconds to play.
Cedar Ridge never hesitated. Grady pushed the ball up the floor and found Jones for a layup that tied the game at 53 with three seconds left.
Motley badly misfired on a 35-foot try at the buzzer that meant overtime.
“When a good player like Motley gets hot, it’s hard to put a stop to him,” Cedar Ridge coach Fred Blanks said. “Overall, I thought we played real hard, especially down 11 points to start the game and we put ourselves in a situation where we had a chance to win. ... Turnovers really killed us, too.”
On the evening, Cedar Ridge turned it over 23 times to Orange’s 15.
In the extra period, the rebounds that had eluded Orange all night (they lost the battle of the boards 44-34) finally went the Panthers’ way. They picked up five boards to none for the Red Wolves in overtime, grabbed an early 56-53 lead on a 3 by Satterwhite with 2:47 to play and saw Jones badly miss a try at a 3 with the Red Wolves down 1 and 1:37 left that would be Cedar Ridge’s last real chance.
Satterwhite tacked on four free throws in four tries in the final 31.9 seconds to seal it.
Orange’s Greg Motley said he wasn’t particularly surprised that the Panthers surged late to win it. He said this is a good team despite its 2-5 record to date. He blamed the slow start on the season and some inconsistency Saturday to the move of several stars from the football field to the basketball court after a 16-game season and long playoff run.
Sean Motley and Jalen Pittman are the prime examples.
“It’s tough getting them back to basketball from football,” Greg Motley said. “But this is a big rivalry, a game they really wanted to win, and it showed at the end.”

BOYS: Orange 60, Cedar Ridge 57 (OT)
Cedar Ridge—Jaylin Grady 16, Bryan McPherson 4, Dwyne Watkins 7, Fred Villines 9, Kyle Jones 11, Jahmil Ingram 4, Peyton Pappas 4, Ray Carter 2.
Orange—Jawan Chambers 8, Gerrell Satterwhite 11, Jalen Pittman 8, Matt Gattis 8, Sean Motley 9, Keegan Crabtree 3, Jalen Johnson 3, J.D. Brooks 2, Andrew Toney 2, Brandon Frye 5.
3 FG—CR 3 (Grady, Villines, Jones), O 6 (Gattis 2, Johnson, Chambers, Crabtree, Satterwhite). Blocked shots—CR 3 (Villines, Carter, Ingram), O 1 (Brooks). Rebounds—CR 44 (Jones 6, McPherson 5), O 34 (Frye 8, Gattis 7. Assists—CR 10 (Villines 4), O 13 (Motley 6). Steals—CR 5 (Carter 2), O 10 (Toney 2, Chambers 2, Motley 2). Turnovers—CR 23 (Villines 7), O 15 (Toney 3, Frye 3).
Cedar Ridge  4  15  17  17  4—57
Orange  11  14  12  16  7—60
Records—Cedar Ridge 3-4, Orange 2-5.

GIRLS: Cedar Ridge 55, Orange 28
Cedar Ridge—Kacia Vines 10, Davana Turner 2, Delaney King 11, Taylor Leathers 2, Holli Butler 8, Kyley Clark 13, Caroline Morton 5, Sarah Howard 2, Cheyenne Silva 2.
Orange—Alicia Harris 6, Nycol Lyons 2, Deja Johnson 11, Deja Booth 6, Bryanna Poteat 3.
Cedar Ridge  6  13  28  8—55
Orange  8  5  0  15—28
Records—Cedar Ridge 4-3, Orange 1-6.