If the standards for a technical foul that applied to Orange in the waning seconds of a tie game apply to the rest of high school basketball in North Carolina, head coaches may want to consider seat belts for their assistants immediately.
After leading 47-39 with 1:36 remaining, the Southern Lee Cavaliers finished the game with a 13-0 run to defeat the Panthers 50-47 inside Cavalier Gymnasium in Sanford on Wednesday night.
In its final nonconference game of the season, it appeared Orange was set to pull off its biggest win under Derryl Britt’s young tenure. They lead 50-45 with 1:00 remaining against a Southern Lee squad with a 10-3 record.
After Octavious Flack scored on a stickback basket with :50.1 remaining, controversy took over. Machai Holt missed the front end of a one-and-one. After Stewart Judd grabbed the rebound for Southern Octavious Flack was fouled on a three-point attempt by Joey McMullin, who contended Flack flopped. It McMullin’s fifth foul. Flank knocked down all three free throws to even the game at 47.
On the subsequent inbounds, Holt tried to dribble through a double team and fell to the floor. There was no whistle, leading to an immediate Orange protest from the bench. In the heat of the moment, a referee called a technical foul with ten seconds remaining in the game on an Orange assistant because he left his seat.
Southern Lee’s Khalil Ridges scored the game-winning point on a back-end of the technical free-throw. Se’Vion Clay sank two free throws with 6.5 seconds remaining, and Joey Franklin’s three-point attempt to tie the game fell short at the buzzer.
Flack led Southern Lee with 17 points, while Clay finished with 15. Mekai Collins had 17 to lead the Panthers, while McMullin had 12. Holt, coming off a career-high 33 points against Western Guilford on Saturday, finished with ten.
The final two minute ruined a solid quarter for the Panthers, where they took their first lead of the second half and held the Cavaliers to only two points in the opening 5:02. McMullin hit back-to-back field goals to vault the Panthers into a 41-37 lead.
It appeared Orange would cruise from there. Collins scored off a lay-in from a gorgeous dribble drive to put Orange ahead 43-37, which was followed by Clay being called for traveling. Holt scored off a field goal with 2:03 remaining. Collins’ free throw extended Orange’s lead to 47-39 with 1:36 left, but it would be Orange’s final points.
Orange, coming off a 5th place finish in the Eastern Guilford Holiday Hoops Tournament, struggled out of the gates. They didn’t score in the opening 4:05. Clay and Flack each scored eight points in the first half to put Southern Lee ahead 27-22 at halftime.
Midway through the third quarter, Collins had only five points, but scored Orange’s final nine points of the third quarter to narrow the Cavaliers’ lead to 37-33.
Wednesday’s game was the start of a stretch of five games in nine days for Orange. Their final 14 games will be Big 8 Conference contests, starting with a road trip to East Chapel Hill on Friday night. Hillsboroughsports.com will carry the Orange women’s game starting at 6, followed by the men’s game at 7:30.