ROXBORO: The curse of the Rock has been broken.
For the first time in nearly ten years, Orange has won in Roxboro right in front of the Rocket Rowdies.
The play itself wasn’t exactly reminiscent of a classic basketball film like “Hoosiers” or “Above the Rim.” It wasn’t even “Space Jam.”
But Orange won in Roxboro for the first time since December 15, 2014, ending a five-game losing streak in Person County.
Now, they’re headed to the Central Conference Tournament championship game.
On a night of the strange, Coleman Cloer remained the reliable constant. He scored 22 points, including 15 in the second half, to pace the Panthers to a 65-59 win on Tuesday night
Orange, the top seed in the tournament, will face either Eastern Alamance or Southern Alamance at Person High School in the championship game on Friday night at 7:30.
Orange avenged a loss to Person two weeks ago, its only defeat against a conference team this season. Person had beaten Orange in seven of the last eight meetings in Roxboro.
Reserve Lamont Johnson and starter Lance Clarke each led Person with 17 points, but Clarke was held to two points in the second half. Clarke, the Rockets leading scorer, was injured with 1:56 remaining in regulation but returned in the final 30 seconds, despite writhing on the floor in pain for several minutes while being treated by head coach Charles Dacus.
The frantic back-and-forth pace usually set by both teams yielded to a half-court matchup on Tuesday night. Orange tried to push tempo whenever possible, but the highlight reel dunks off the backboard against Eastern Alamance from Friday night didn’t make the trip up Highway 157.
Part of that was the Rockets inspired play. Person had to beat Walter Williams in Burlington on Monday night just to reach the semifinals inside its own gym. The Rockets may not have been at their best, but they certainly didn’t make it easy for Orange.
“I’ve watched that team play lackluster in a lot of games,” said Orange coach Derryl Britt. “But no matter where the game is located, when it’s Orange and Person, they get up for it. So it doesn’t matter if they played the night before. They get up for us. We expect what we got tonight.”
Cloer came into the game off a 41-point effort against Southern Alamance, followed by a 31-point night against Eastern Alamance on Friday. Person forward Daejon Hodge held Cloer to seven in the first half.
Neither team led by more than four points in the first half. Orange sophomore Mason Robinson threw down three ally-oop feeds in the second quarter to space the Panther lead to 31-27, but Johnson and Hodge scored the final four points of the half to even things up at 31-31 going to the locker room.
With Clarke bottled up by Orange’s Freddy Sneed and Pennix, Johnson and Hodge carried the offensive load for the Rockets during the second half. After Clarke blocked a shot from Wade, Jordan Lunsford got the ball to Hodge, who tipped it in to even the game 42-42 with 2:12 remaining in the third quarter.
Cloer lobbed the ball for Robinson for another ally-oop dunk immediately afterwards, which triggered a 10-0 run that put the Panthers in control. Sneed stole a pass from Clarke and fed Kai Wade, who appeared to set up an ally-oop for Cloer. But Wade threw the pass so precise, it dropped through the net to increase the Orange lead to 47-42. Cloer scored off a running one-hander, while Clarke followed with an errant 3-pointer. Cloer hit two more free throws.
Reserve Malykhai Justice was inserted into the game to replace Robinson after he picked up his fourth foul. As the third quarter wound down, Cloer absorbed contact while missing a drive to the basket, but Justice grabbed the rebound and beat the 3rd quarter clock with a lay-in to give Orange its first double-digit lead at 53-43.
Person shot 0-of-6 from three-point range in the third quarter.
The Rockets whittled the margin down to six points several times in the waning minutes, but Clarke was injured during a frantic sequence where the Rockets had possession. Clarke injured his calf and couldn’t put any weight on his left leg as he was carried off the floor by Person assistant wrestling coach Chase Kernodle, a former Orange grappler. Yet Clarke returned in the final seconds.
Wade and Pennix knocked down pressure free throws in the final minute.
Person was chosen as the location to host the tournament semifinals and championship games after a vote of the Central Conference’s basketball coaches because it was the most convenient geographically to the league’s seven teams.