Matt Ridge initially finalized his 2009-10 Davidson County Community College basketball schedule on Monday.

But the third-year Storm coach never gave up on his hopes of convincing the University of North Carolina junior varsity team to come to Brinkley Gym. And when Ridge got a call on Tuesday from UNC JV coach Jerod Haase offering the possibility of a game, he pounced.

“I had been trying to get them to consider doing it my first two years,” Ridge said. “Everything they do is bound by their varsity schedule. Coach Haase called me today and gave me a couple of dates and we made it work.”

DCCC will host the Tar Heels on Wednesday, Jan. 27.

It’s all part of an effort by Ridge to seriously beef up DCCC’s schedule. The Storm will take on tougher opponents like Pitt Community College and Guilford Tech early in the season, which begins at home on Nov. 1 against Wytheville (Va.) Community College.

“Our schedule is the toughest we’ve had,” Ridge said. “We’ll be challenged, especially in November when we play at Guilford Tech. They’re always tough at home. We play at the Smith Center (against the UNC JVs). Pitt is a Division II school and offers scholarships. We’ve got four or five games in November that will really challenge us. We’ll find out how good we are.”

There’s a reason for that.

“The bottom line is in junior college that unless you win your region, you’re done,” Ridge said. “The last two years we went to the finals and lost. So we’re going to test ourselves early, see what our weaknesses are and address them in practice. Then when we play in the tournament Feb. 25-27, we can keep on playing after that.”

DCCC is hosting the Region X tournament for the 2009-10 season.

The region has added new member Southwest Virginia Community College, while Catawba Valley Community College, the school that beat DCCC in the tournament finals the last two years, left to move up to NJCAA Division II. Other schools in the region are Caldwell Community College, Central Carolina Community College, Sandhills Community College and Oxford (Ga.) College.