Big 8 sets its brackets for tournament week

Each year, the same questions arise when the Big-8 basketball tournament pops up on the calendar.

On the women’s side, it’s “can anyone defeat Chapel Hill?” As a whole, the overriding question is: “will weather allow the tournament to take place?”

Last year, the answer to the final question was “no.” Snow and ice not only caused the tournament to be cancelled, but the first few rounds of the state tournament were pushed back, as well. Some schools, like Orange, were forced to have playoff games on a Sunday, an extreme rarity.

This year, if Old Man Winter will take a holiday, the tournament may prove to be intriguing.

On the strength of two wins over Orange, Southern Durham wrapped up the Big-8 boys’ regular-season championship with an 11-1 record and gets an opening round bye. On Wednesday, the Spartans will host the winner of the first-round game between Chapel Hill and Northern Vance. The Tigers, seeded fourth, will host the Vikings on Monday.

The most pivotal week of the Spartans’ championship run was also the most adverse. In the final week of January, Southern played three game in three nights. It all started easily enough, with an 81-54 home win over Webb.

The following night at Cedar Ridge was different. Hours before the game, Spartans Coach Kendrick Hall had to go to the emergency room at Duke Hospital when his wife was involved in an automobile accident. Hall had to give his team pre-game instructions via FaceTime on a cell phone. He didn’t arrive to the game until nearly halftime.

By the time Hall’s wife was cleared for checkout, his team was down 10-0. Remarkably, a Cedar Ridge team that started 0-4 in Big-8 play never trailed in upsetting Southern 70-65 in Hillsborough.

There was no time for a letdown. Orange was coming to town the following night with first place in the Big-8 at stake. Hall’s family at home was fine, but it took all of 80 seconds for Southern to lose leading scorer J’Tori Christmas with a sprained ankle. He hasn’t played since.

Hall’s next man up mentality paid off as Southern still defeated the Panthers 81-62 behind 27 points from Antonio Daye and earned the league title.

In Monday’s first round for the Big-8 boys, No. 2-seeded Orange hosts No. 7 Northwood, while No. 3-seeded Cedar Ridge welcomes No. 6 Webb. The next rounds are played Wednesday at the higher seeds.

If they win Monday, crosstown rivals Orange and Cedar Ridge will face each other for the third time this season at OHS Wednesday, a fitting lead-in to the Duke-UNC tipoff.

The Big-8 championship game for both men and women will be Friday at the home site of the tournament’s No. 1 girls team.

Big-8 girls

In the girls tournament, Chapel Hill and Northwood (both 10-2 in Big-8 games), had to draw for the No. 1 seed at a conference coaches meeting Friday evening at Orange High. Chapel Hill won the draw, getting the first-round bye that went with the top seed.

Northwood appeared to be the one to beat as the teams came out of their Christmas break. The Chargers had captured the Lee County Holiday Tournament, and started their conference slate with a 66-40 victory over Chapel Hill, the two-time defending 3A Eastern Regional Champions.

Well, the more things change in Big-8 basketball, the more they stay the same. Chapel Hill rebounded to win its last eight conference games, including a win against then-co-leader Southern Durham in the last game of the season, and tied Northwood for the regular-season championship, both of them at 10-2.

Bumped down to a No. 3 seed, Southern Durham hosts No. 6 Cedar Ridge in Monday’s quarterfinal, while No. 4 Webb welcomes No. 5 Orange. No. 7 Northern Vance has to play at No. 2 Northwood.

Like the boys, the girls play their semifinals Wednesday at the home of the higher seed: the Southern-Cedar Ridge winner facing the Northwood-N.Vance winner, and the Webb-Orange winner playing at Chapel Hill.

PAC-6 tournament

The PAC-6, now up to seven teams with this year’s addition of Cardinal Gibbons, follows much the same format as the Big-8. The No. 1 seeds (the Hillside girls and the Riverside boys) have a bye, and first-round games are played Tuesday at the higher seed’s home court.

The final seeds for the girls weren’t completed until the season’s last games were played Friday night: East Chapel Hill versus Riverside and Northern versus Cardinal Gibbons. Northern could have finished anywhere from third to fifth in the league, while East or Gibbons could have finished anywhere from No. 4 to 6.

Neither the East girls (12-9 overall) or boys (15-7) earned one of the PAC-6’s three guaranteed state playoff berths. They still can get in by winning the conference tournament or by earning an at-large spot based upon their final overall records.

The PAC-6 girls semifinals are scheduled to be played at 6 and 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at Riverside.

The boys semifinals are planned for 6 and 7:30 p.m. Thursday at Riverside.

The PAC-6 championships are set for Friday at Riverside, with the girls playing at 6 p.m. and the boys championship final to follow at 7:30 p.m.

This story was originally published February 12, 2016 at 6:18 PM with the headline "Big 8 sets its brackets for tournament week."