Month: December 2019

Entering Thursday night, the Orange men’s basketball team hadn’t started 3-0 since 2006, at least.

Before they could focus on that, they had to get free from their past. Namely, their most disappointing game from last year, which happened nearly exactly eleven months ago.

Orange led Southern Lee 47-39 with 1:36 remaining, only to have the Cavaliers finish the game on a 13-0 run and scored the game-winning points on a controversial technical foul against the Panther bench.

Southern Lee finished 25-4, won the Tri-County Conference Championship, and only lost 61-58 to Walter Williams in the 2nd round of the 3A State Playoffs. That same Williams team played for the state championship.

Though the Cavaliers have only one returning stater from last year, the Panthers got their revenge on Thursday.

Joey McMullin, one week removed from a career-high 38 points against Research Triangle, scored 27 as the Panthers (3-0) defeated the Cavaliers 70-58.

Junior Jason Franklin added 15 points, his third consecutive game in double figures. Senior Machai Holt added 13.

Quashawn Williams led the Cavaliers (1-5) with 16 points, while Makyi Butler scored 13.

Orange is now off to its best start since the 2005-06 season, at least, and quite likely even further back. They will travel to Southern Alamance for its third game in four days on Friday.

Not that everything was peachy. McMullin hit back-to-back 3-pointers to lift the Panthers to a 27-11 lead in the second quarter, but the Cavaliers chipped away at the lead for the rest of the first half.

Orange didn’t score in the final 3:27 of the second quarter, while Southern went on an 10-0 run, punctuated by a 3-point play from backup center J’Quan Smith, who blocked a finger roll by Holt and took the ball coast-to-coast for a lay-in and foul.

“I wasn’t pleased with the last few minutes of the first half,” Orange Coach Derryl Britt said. “However, looking back, we kind of got exactly what we needed because we haven’t been tested yet. Even though we won by 12, we were only up seven at the half. We needed to play under those circumstances against a strong team.”

Williams and Makyi Butler each had three-point plays in the opening minutes of the third quarter to cut Orange’s lead to 35-31. McMullin triggered the run that decided the game with a 3-pointer, which was followed by another trey from Tucker Miller, his only points.

Jerec Thompson hit two free throws with 3:08 remaining to extend Orange’s lead to 43-33, then J.J. Thompson came up with a steal that turned into free throws from McMullin, who also notched Orange’s next field goal on a jump hook. Kendrell Brooks scored his only points on a snowbird to cap a 14-2 Orange run.

McMullin ended last season with a 27-point game at Southern Durham in the Big 8 Conference Tournament quarterfinals.

The Panthers led 17-6 at the end of the first quarter, closing the frame on a 7-0 run. That included a three-pointer from Franklin and a lay-in by Machai Holt that went through the net despite being deflected by Smith.

McMullin hit back-to-back 3-pointers in the second quarter to give Orange a 27-11 lead early in the second quarter.

ORANGE 70, SOUTHERN LEE 58

SOUTHERN LEE: Quashawn Williams 16, Se’Vion Clay 8, Ely-Jah Smith 5, Makyi Butler 13, Gee McDougald 2, RarQuan Simmons 2, Nicholas Locklear 2, J’Quan Smith 7, Randall Upchurch 4.

ORANGE: Jerec Thompson 10, Jason Franklin 15, Machai Holt 13, Joey McMullin 27, Tucker Miller 3, Kendrell Brooks 2.

The Orange men’s basketball team is 3-0 for the first time in 13 years, at least. The Panthers defeated Southern Lee 70-58 on Thursday night at Panther Gymnasium. Machai Holt finished with 13 points. On Tuesday, Orange defeated Granville Central 76-48. Holt finished with 15 points against Central. Coming off a football season where Holt scored 12 touchdowns, he aims to finish his Orange playing career in style this winter for Coach Derryl Britt. On Friday night, the Panthers will play its third game in four days when they travel to Southern Alamance. We’ll have the broadcast on Hillsboroughsports.com starting with the women’s game at 6:30.

Photo courtesy of Card Chronicle

Scott Satterfield: The 1991 Orange High graduate, who grew up miles from the Caldwell community where he watched his father Freddie run street stock race cars at the Orange County Speedway, is the Atlantic Coast Conference Football Coach of the Year. The official announcement came Thursday morning from the ACC office in Greensboro. Among a panel of 46 media members, Satterfield received 23 votes. Virginia’s Bronco Mendenhall finished second with 17. Dabo Sweeney of Clemson received 15 votes.

Satterfield took over the reigns of the Louisville Cardinals last December after leaving Appalachian State, his alma mater. The Cardinals were picked to finish last in the ACC’s Atlantic Division. Louisville went 7-5, 5-3 in the ACC. They became bowl eligible with a victory over N.C. State in Raleigh on November 16. The Cardinals also played three ranked teams in 2019, including its season-opener against #9 Notre Dame on September 1.

On October 13, Louisville defeated #19 Wake Forest at BB&T Field in Winston-Salem, its first road win over a ranked team since 2011.

At Appalachian State, Satterfield led the Mountaineers to three consecutive Sun Belt Conference Championships. His final game with the Mountaineers came in the inaugural Sun Belt Conference Championship game, where Appalachian defeated the University of Louisiana 30-19 at Kidd Brewer Stadium in Boone. Afterwards, Satterfield left for Louisville while assistant Mark Ivey prepared the Mountaineers for the New Orleans Bowl, which they won over Middle Tennessee.

Satterfield played quarterback and safety for the Orange Panthers in 1990. His junior season was cut short in 1989 after he tore his ACL in the season opener against Eastern Alamance in Mebane.

Trenton Gill: The former Cedar Ridge football and soccer star was named 3rd-team All-ACC punter by a panel of 46 media members and the ACC’s 14 head coaches. Gill received 61 votes. After he didn’t play his freshman year at N.C. State, Gill averaged 47.6 yards per punt in 2019, a school record. He also averaged a net of 41.5 yards per punt. 50% of Gill’s punts were over 50 yards. Of Gill’s 56 punts, 17 were downed inside the 20-yard line. As a placekicker, 50% of Gill’s kickoff were touchbacks. Gill was nominated for the Ray Guy Award, but didn’t made the cut for semifinalists. Gill was an All-Big 8 Conference performer in soccer and football at Cedar Ridge.

Icez Barnett: Belmont Abbey defeated Division II Chowan 83-57 in women’s basketball on Tuesday night. Barnett played six minutes and grabbed one rebound. The Hawks are now 1-6 overall, 1-2 in Conference Carolinas. Chowan returns to action against Erskine on December 14.

Lauren Cates: Spartanburg Methodist defeated the Wake Tech Community College women’s basketball team 66-56 in Spartanburg, SC on Monday. Cates started and was the only Eagle to play all 40 minutes. She finished with eight points on 3-of-13 shooting, including 2-of-11 from 3-point range. Cates also had three rebounds and one assist. Wake Tech is 5-3, 3-2 in Region X of the National Junior College Athletic Association. Cates has started all eight of the Eagles games. She is the second leading scorer on the team with 10.6 points per game. She’s shooting 37% from 3-point range. The Eagles travel to Patrick Henry Community College in Martinsville, VA on Saturday.

This week’s Orange Panther of the Week is senior basketball forward Joey McMullin. Last week in the season-opener against Research Triangle, McMullin established a new career high with 38 points as the Panthers defeated the Raptors 80-62. McMullin was 15-of-25 from the field, including 5-of-8 from three-point range. McMullin has started since his freshman year, when he played alongside current Richmond Spider Connor Crabtree. Together, they led arguably the best team since Orange’s 1969 State Championship team. Orange won the Big 8 Regular Season Championship, the Eastern Guilford Holiday Hoops Championship (by beating Eastern Guilford in the final) and reached the state quarterfinals. On Tuesday night, McMullin scores eleven points as the Panthers rolled past Granville Central 76-48. On Thursday, Orange faces Southern Lee at Orange High Gymnasium, where the Panthers will look to start 3-0 for the first time since at least 2005 when they face Southern Lee. 

This week’s Cedar Ridge Red Wolf of the Week is freshman wrestler Fernando Martinez. On Wednesday night, Martinez defeated Chapel Hill’s Avery Soular to improve to 6-1 on the season. Remarkably, Martinez only started wrestling two years ago at A.L. Stanback Middle School. Since then, he advanced to the championship of his weight class in the Orange Person Athletic Conference as an 8th grader. Last month, he won his first high school match against Williams. Then in the Red Wolves Invitational at Cedar Ridge, Martinez finished second at 106 pounds. He scored an 18-10 win over Person’s Derrick Laycock in his first competitive high school match. In the semifinals, Martinez pinned Chris Grubb of Trinityin 5:53. Martinez also scores two wins last week in a tri-meet against Apex Friendship and Green Hope, where he pinned the Green Wave’s Payton Meade in 1:33. Martinez is one of several promising freshman competing on the mat this winter in Hillsborough. He will be among many competing in the Jim King Invitational at Orange High starting Friday.

The new chapter of Orange women’s basketball has officially opened.

Icez Barnett, Lauren Cates, Grace Dively and Kate Burgess were the last pieces of the most successful team in school history. That was the 2016-17 squad that won 21 consecutive games to open the season, finished 26-2 and won the Big 8 Regular Season and Tournament Championships.

All four of those players graduated in June.

On Tuesday night, Coach B.J. Condron started three sophomores, one freshman and a senior in long-awaited season opener against Granville Central. Without the smooth poise of Barnett controlling the offense or Cates waiting in the corner for one of her trademark 3-pointers, the Lady Panthers were predictably rough around the edges, but they still had enough for a comfortable win.

Grace Andrews and Jarmil Wingate each scored ten points to lead Orange to a 56-36 victory, the fourth year in a row that the Lady Panthers won its season opener. Sophomore Aaliyah Harris added nine, while freshman center Erin Jordan-Cornell scored eight points.

While the ball handling wasn’t as secure as past Orange teams, there was a new shade of aggressiveness and tenacity from the Lady Panthers. More than a few players probably awoke to bruises on their bodies Wednesday morning from diving on the floor for the many loose balls caused by deflections.

Part of that may have come from Orange practicing for an inordinate amount of time. The Lady Panthers were originally slated to start on November 22 against Northern Guilford, but the game was cancelled because the Nighthawks’ football team hosted a state playoff game.

With an extra eleven days before its first game, Condron arranged extra practices with various men’s players.

“We’ve been emphasizing putting in more effort,” Condron said. “We wanted to play hard defensively to get our offense going. They took it to heart. It’s something I was unsure about because we’ve seen it in practice at times, but not all the time.”

Orange led 16-12 at the half, but Central nearly tied the contest in the opening minutes of the third quarter after Coryiah White sank an 18-footer. Central missed a layup that would have evened the game. Orange went on a 10-0 run behind nine points from Andrews in the third quarter. Wingate added a field goal, while Jordan-Cornell got to the foul line ten times in her first Orange game.

“Jarmil always puts herself in a good position because of her effort,” Condron said. “She can hit a midrange jump shot. I think towards the end we had some really good passes against the press that found her open a few times.”

Going into the fourth quarter ahed 34-23, Orange put the game on ice with seven different players scoring. Sophomore point guard Aaliyah Harris scored nine, while classmate Mary Moss Wirt added six.

“I wasn’t sure how we were going to react in the first game,” Condron said. “I think Aaliyah did a good job setting the tone for it all. We were a little bit unsure, but she battled for loose balls and led the charge. Everybody kind of followed in with her.”

Orange will travel to Southern Alamance on Friday night.

For two schools that have only each other twice, Orange and Granville Central have a bond.

Mike McDaniel graduated from Orange in 1992, when he was an All-PAC 6 linebacker for the most successful Panther team of the 90s. He went on to be an assistant coach with Orange in the mid-2000s before leaving for Stem to build his own brand.

Derryl Britt was once a coach at Central before becoming the North Carolina School of Science and Math as an assistant. He still lives in Granville County and figured McDaniel would take the Orange job when it opened in 2018 following the departure of Greg Motley. When McDaniel opted to stay in Stem, Britt was hired away from Warren County.

Last year, Orange defeated Central in a barnburner in front of a heated, packed gym in Granville. On Tuesday night at a solid crowd in Hillsborough, the only thing that was hot was Orange’s shooting.

Sophomore Jerec Thompson scored a career-high 25 points to guide the Panthers to a 76-48 win over Central in Hillsborough. Thompson scored eleven points on his first four shots as the Panthers led wire-to-wire for the second straight game.

Senior Machai Holt added 15 points as the Panthers started a span of three games in four days. They host Southern Lee on Thursday in Hillsborough, then travel to Southern Alamance on Friday.

Britt, who was pressed into the awkward situation of replacing Orange’s all-time winningest coach last August, used this summer to put his imprint on what is now his program. During the annual summer camp at Guilford College, Britt believes the team grew closer.

“Camaraderie is better this year,” Britt said. “We’re much more of a team this year. I attribute that to the second year of the guys being in the system. They came into the season understanding the system better after a really good summer and the expectations better.”

Behind Thompson’s hot shooting and Machai Holt’s finishing ability, Orange jumped out to a 15-4 lead. Holt scored 15 points, one of four Panthers in double figures.

Jason Franklin added eleven points, while senior Joey McMullin added 10. McMullin started the year with a career-high 38 points in the season-opener against Research Triangle.

Next up for Orange will be Southern Lee, who handed the Panthers a bitter loss on January 2 in Sanford. The Panthers led 47-39 with 1:36 remaining before the Cavaliers finished the game on a 13-0 run to win 52-47.

With the game tied, 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.

The game-winning free throws were scored on the technical free throws.

Southern Lee finished 25-4 and won the Tri-County Conference Championship. That loss may have cost Orange a trip to the state playoffs.

While Southern Lee graduated six players from that team over the summer, the memory of that loss remains vivid in Britt’s mind.

“I have not forgotten about that one at all,” Britt said. “That game sticks in my mind. The details are burned into my mind. We’re going to play as good a ball as we can play.”

Orange sophomore Jerec Thompson scored eleven points on his first four shots on Tuesday night as the Panthers defeated Granville Central 76-48 in Hillsborough. Thompson finished with a career-high 25 points, including five 3-pointers in the first half. Thompson was called up to the varsity squad last December during the Eastern Guilford Holiday Hoops Tournament in Gibsonville. Since then, he has become a regular rotation player for Coach Derryl Britt. Thompson’s previous career-high came against Chapel Hill, when he scored 21 Points on February 8 against Chapel Hill in a 66-65 win. Orange will host Southern Lee on Thursday in Hillsborough trying to avenge a bitter loss from last January. Orange is 2-0.

The Orange women’s basketball team finally started its season on Tuesday night, eleven days after they were supposed to. The Lady Panthers defeated Granville Central 52-32 in Hillsborough. After four starters graduated last year, Orange started three sophomores and one freshman. Forward Jarmil Wingate scored ten points, including eight in the second half as the Lady Panthers pulled away with a 10-0 run in the third quarter. Sophomore Aaliyah Harris added nine points. Senior Grace Andrews added ten points as Orange beat Central for the second straight year. Freshman Erin Jordan-Cornell added nine. Orange will travel to Southern Alamance on Friday night. You can hear that game on Hillsboroughsports.com starting at 6.