MEBANE–“Even if I didn’t have my son on the team, I’d still pay $8 to watch Orange play.”
Those words from an Orange High parent after the Panthers 67-56 win at Eastern Alamance on Wednesday night sum up the attitude around the program right now. It’s not a state championship team, but for the first time in years, Orange basketball is doing more than just winning consistently.
They’re a lot of fun to watch.
Against the Eagles, freshman Coleman Cloer had a drive down the lane for a one-hand slam in the opening minutes, the video of which went viral across social media before midnight. It instantly snapped a malaise inside the small gymnasium to a sudden and startled roar from the spectators. Even the Eastern Alamance substitutes exchanged shocked glances on the bench.
In the second half, Cloer flushed down an off-the-backboard ally-oop from classmate Kai Wade, while junior Ryan Honeycutt and freshman Ryan Honeycutt both had dunks as the Panthers pulled away late.
With seven games remaining in the regular season, it’s already the most successful team at Orange (12-6, 4-2 in the Central Carolina Conference) in the five-year tenure of head coach Derryl Britt.
The game marked a signature point in Orange’s season. For starters, it was their last contest before exam break. It also marked the halfway point of the Central Carolina Conference schedule. Going 4-2 into the turn, as they say after completing the front nine holes in golf, felt a lot better than going 3-3. Especially when all of Orange’s wins came on the road.
Cloer, coming off a 35-point game against Person, finished with 28 points against the Eagles. Junior center Ryan Honeycutt had 13 points.
Michael Reaves paced Eastern Alamance (9-7, 2-4) with 15 points.
It was Orange’s seventh road win of the season. In the previous three years, Orange won eight road games.
“We call Cloer our closer,” Britt said. “Down the stretch of games, we tell him to use any move he can to get us across the finish line. Dribble drives. Pivot. Drop steps. Up and unders. We call him ‘Stat’ too, because he can fill up the stat sheet.”
Orange led 47-39 with 2:09 remaining in the third quarter when the Eagles reeled off six in a row. Reaves had a chance to tie the game but was called for a charge just before the end of the frame after he ran into guard Jackson Barretto.
To open the fourth quarter, Eastern’s Antoine Pugh was called for an illegal screen as the Eagles were set to inbound. Honeycutt dumped an offensive rebound off to Cloer for a two-hand dunk.
Reaves came back with a one-handed runner while drawing a foul on Mason Robinson. Reaves’ free throw cut the Panthers’ lead to 49-48. The Eagles had a chance to take the lead after a steal by Pugh, but the Eagles missed. After Robinson, who played a season-high 21 minutes, grabbed the offensive rebound, Cloer found Honeycutt at the other end for another two-handed dunk.
Cloer extended Orange’s lead with a duck and fade move in the lane where he tossed it in from ten feet with the left hand. Following two free throws by Reaves, the Panthers used a three-way passing play where Robinson found Kaleb Barnhardt, who dropped it off to Isaiah Seymour for a lay-in.
Later, Barnhardt knocked the ball away from Pugh and found Wade for a transition basket put Orange ahead 58-50, equaling the Panthers largest lead of the game.
Orange will get six of its last seven games of the regular season at home, starting with Western Alamance next Friday night. Currently, the Panthers are tied with Walter Williams for third place in the loss column in the Central Carolina Conference with a 4-2 record. Orange currently holds the tiebreaker over Williams. If the Panthers host a game in the Central Carolina Tournament, it will be the first time they’ve hosted a postseason game since 2017, when they faced Northern Guilford in the 3A State Quarterfinals.
