Call it fate. Call it karma. Call it good luck.
For whatever reason, the Orange men’s basketball team has had its most clutch moments inside Chapel Hill High School in recent years.
It’s where they defeated Southern Durham in 2016 to win the Big 8 Conference Tournament, its first postseason championship in over 25 years. It’s where Machai Holt came to life last year with 16 points in the final eleven minutes to lift the Panthers past Chapel Hill in double overtime.
The latest shining moment inside the house that Ken Miller built came from Kendrell Brooks on Tuesday night.
Brooks hit a one-hand runner with :05 remaining as Orange defeated Chapel Hill 61-59 to end a seven-game losing streak. It was the Panthers’ first win since December 18 when they routed Walter Williams.
Joey McMullin led Orange with 22 points, while Jerec Thompson added 17. Brooks finished with 13.
Colin Himmelberg and Jake Chisholm each scored 12 for Chapel Hill (7-8, 2-3). Curiously, Himmelberg barely played in the final minutes.
With the scored tied 51-51 going into the fourth quarter, Orange went without a field goal for five minutes. Chapel Hill, who went with an all-reserve lineup for most of the fourth quarter, didn’t seize the moment in that span, scoring only five points to take a 56-51 lead. Backup guard Keshawn Brown scored the Tigers’ only two field goals in the final quarter, including a five-footer in transition with 13 seconds left that tied the game in a thrilling final sequence.
Chapel Hill led 56-55 with 2:00 remaining when Kyle Stanley took a lightning bolt of a pass from Tucker Miller to score on a lay-in. Issac Sinclair split two free throws on Chapel Hill’s next possession to even the game at 57.
Each team missed the front ends of one-and-ones on subsequent possessions. Brooks took a McMullin screen and danced down the lane to give Orange a 59-57 lead before Brown tied it.
“Kendrell stepped up and played a very good game tonight,” said Orange Coach Derryl Britt. “Down the stretch, we played team basketball when we trusted each other. That’s what we needed. The guys trusted the game plan. It paid off for us in the end. We finished the game playing team basketball.”
Unlike last year’s double overtime game where Chapel Hill led for the vast majority, this game was nip-and-tuck. Chapel Hill’s largest lead was six points. Orange didn’t lead by more than four. Of the eleven Tigers that played, nine scored.
After three disappointing home losses last week, all against Big 8 Conference opponents, the Panthers found their shooting stroke once again. Of Orange’s 12 field goals in the first half, seven were 3-pointers. McMullin had 13 points in the first half, and added seven more in the third quarter.
“The best thing I saw all night was the way we communicated with each other,” Britt said. “Offensively and defensively, down the stretch, the way we congratulated each other. It didn’t matter who hit the shot or who got the defensive stop. As long as we got it as a unit, everybody was happy and everybody celebrated.”
Next up for Orange will be, almost certainly, the most surreal matchup in school history regardless of sport. The Panthers will travel to Southern Durham, coached by Greg Motley, the all-time winningest coach in Orange history. For years, Motley stood on the sidelines for Orange when Southern Durham, coached by Kendrick Hall, was the Panthers’ biggest rival.
Motley still teaches at Orange and includes several Panther players among his students. In November, Motley replaced David Noel, who left Southern Durham after one season as head coach to become an assistant with the Capital City Go-Go of the NBA Gatorade League.
ORANGE 61, CHAPEL HILL 59
CHAPEL HILL: Colin Himmelberg 12, Seth Morton 4, Issac Sinclar 1, Jack Grubbs 6, Jake Chisholm 12, Matt Polsky 2, Jermaine Burnette 8, Keshawn Brown 11, Grant Ferris 3.
ORANGE: Jerec Thompson 17, Jason Franklin 3, Kyle Stanley 6, Joey McMullin 22, Kendrell Brooks 13.