It is a new day for Orange men’s basketball.
More to the point, Coach Derry Britt has as much depth and size to start the 2022-2023 season than any other time in his five-year tenure. That’s mainly because of an infusion of youth that arrived over the summer and delivered a flashy and authoritative result against an experienced foe in the season opener on Friday night.
Facing an East Chapel Hill team that had five seniors log plenty of minutes, Britt started four players making their varsity debut, three of them freshman, and still beat the Wildcats 55-50 at Panther Gymnasium.
Freshman Coleman Cloer, the younger brother of former Orange High quarterback Garrett Cloer, led the Panthers with 17 points in his first varsity game. Sophomore Xandrell Pinnix added 14 points, all in the second half.
East, whose only lead in the game was 2-0 after a stickback basket by Makai Rhodes, was paced by junior Isaiah Skyron, a sharp shooting guard who finished with 16 points.
Last season, the Wildcats swept the regular season series from the Panthers, including a 16-point win in Hillsborough.
Orange has six players on its roster with at least one year of varsity experience, but freshmen Cloer, Mason Robinson and Kai Wade all started against the Wildcats. Center Ryan Honeycutt, a 6-foot-6 inch junior who didn’t play basketball at all last year, also made his varsity debut on Friday night.
The impetus for Britt going on started in June when Cloer and Wade, fresh out of 8th grade, started in the Orange High Summer Tournament. The Panthers won an 8-team, three-day tournament, which left Britt anticipating the season-opener like a child waiting for Christmas morning.
After five months of waiting, Britt and his team finally got to open the presents on Friday night and it went as well as expected.
“I thought we were a little nervous coming out,” Britt said. “I expected that because this was a lot of players’ first high school game. We had a decent crowd here so I knew they would be a little nervous. There’s a reason why they’re here and a reason why they’re starting for us. So I wanted them to get used to the environment and to play their game.”
With Orange leading 28-25 at the half, Pinnix opened the second half with consecutive 3-pointers. He finished with 12 points in the third quarter off four 3-pointers, which extended the Panthers’ lead to a dozen. Pinnix’s range from downtown made the difference after a cold shooting first half.
“He was 0-for-4 in the first half,” Britt said of Pinnix. ” I pulled him aside at halftime and told him they were all good looks for him and he needed to continue to shoot that. In our offense, he’s going to get those looks and he’s gotta continue to shoot that. I fully trust him and in the second half they started to fall.”
Orange bounced out to a 17-4 lead behind Cloer, whose first official basket in an Orange uniform came on a drive where he switched hands in mid-air on a lay-in, while getting fouled by Styron. Cloer scored nine points in the first quarter.
In the second quarter, the Wildcats held the Panthers to one field goal. The Wildcats closed the first half with nine consecutive points, keyed by Martez and Marquez Cotton, who each scored five points in the second quarter. Dillon McMurtry fed backup center Isaiah Smith for a lay-in with seven seconds remaining to narrow Orange’s deficit to 28-25 at halftime.
Wade, in his varsity debut, had six points in the final quarter. All of Orange’s scoring came from its five starters.
ORANGE 55, EAST CHAPEL HILL 50
EAST CHAPEL HILL-Dillon McMurtry 3, Isaiah Styron 16, Makai Rhodes 2, Thailand Evans 3, Jacob Bryan 1, Martez Cotton 12, Marquez Cotton 9, Isaiah Smith 4.
ORANGE-Mason Robinson 6, Xandrell Pinnix 14, Kai Wade 10, Coleman Cloer 17, Ryan Honeycutt 8.
3-Point Baskets: East Chapel Hill 8 (Styron 4, Martez Cotton 2, Marquez Cotton, McMurtry)
ORANGE 5 (Pinnix 4, Cloer)
FOULED OUT: East Chapel Hill (Marquez Cotton)
Orange: none