Orange Men’s Basketball

Kayla Hodges: After four seasons at Elon University as an All-Colonial Athletic Association midfielder in women’s soccer, Kayla Hodges has announced she will attend to Virginia Commonwealth University as a graduate transfer in 2022. In her final season with Elon, Hodges was named first-team All-CAA. Last season, she started all 17 games for Elon and scored three goals. Last spring, Hodges helped the Phoenix win its first-ever Colonial Athletic Association Tournament championship. In ten games, she was named second-team All-CAA. Hodges played 42 games in her career at Elon. She was also a factor in Elon fishing the 2021 season with a team-GPA of 3.693, the highest in team history. She will transfer to a VCU team that won the 2021 Atlantic 10 Conference regular season championship. The Rams finished 13-4 overall, 9-1 in the A-10. The Rams narrowly missed out on going to the NCAA Tournament, losing to St. Joseph’s 1-0 in the Atlantic 10 Championship game.

Payton Wilson: Joe Giglio of WRAL.com reported that Wilson will return for another season with the N.C. State football team. Wilson, who was an All-Atlantic Coast Conference linebacker in 2020, suffered a season-ending shoulder injury against Mississippi State on September 11. Wilson completed only one game this season as the Wolfpack finished 9-3. He was eligible to declare for the National Football League draft since he graduated from Orange High in 2018, longer than the three-year minimum period required by the NFL. He is still a redshirt sophomore with the Wolfpack. N.C. State will face UCLA in the Holiday Bowl in San Diego on Tuesday.

Connor Crabtree: The Richmond men’s basketball team will go into Atlantic 10 Conference play with a ton of momentum. The Spiders defeated N.C. State 83-74 in the Basketball Hall of Fame Shootout at the Spectrum Center in Charlotte on December 17. It was the first win over an ACC team for the Spiders since they defeated Boston College in November 2019. Crabtree came off the bench to play seven minutes. He didn’t score. Last Sunday, the Spiders knocked off Old Dominion 67-61 at the Robins Center in Richmond. Crabtree came off the bench to play six minutes and didn’t score. On Wednesday, the Spiders routed Bucknell 81-50 in its final game before Christmas. Crabtree played eleven minutes and scored five points. He also had four rebounds and two assists. Richmond went 6-0 in December with wins over Wofford, Northern Iowa and Toledo. The Spiders open Atlantic 10 Conference play against St. Joseph’s on Thursday.

Joey McMullin: The Sandhills Community College men’s basketball team ended 2021 with five straight wins in December. On December 15, Sandhills defeated Shooting for Greatness 108-78 in Pinehurst. McMullin came off the bench and scored 13 points in 12 minutes. McMullin shot 4-of-6 from the field and knocked down a three-pointer. He added three rebounds and one assist. On December 18, the Flyers defeated Thomas Nelson Community College 90-71. McMullin had 16 points for Sandhills, which improved to 10-4 overall. McMullin had 16 points along with a team-high eight rebounds. He shot 7-of-10 from the field, including scoring on his only 3-point attempt. The Flyers are ranked #10 in Division III of the National Junior College Athletic Association. They are also 1-0 in Region X of the NJCAA. Sandhills will travel to Davidson-Davie Community College in Thomasville on New Year’s Day.

Desean Motley: Following in his father’s footsteps, Desean Motley has been promoted to Associate head coach for the Division II Lees-McRae men’s basketball team. Motley was a guard for his father, former Orange men’s basketball coach Greg Motley, at Orange. He averaged 14 points, six rebounds and five assists for the Panthers. Motley played two seasons for Lees-McRae before he started his college coaching career during his senior year with the Bobcats. Lees-McRae is currently 5-2 in Conference Carolinas, 7-4 overall.

This week’s Orange Panther of the Week is senior men’s basketball guard Jerec Thompson. In his first game of the season on December 2, Thompson scored a career-high 41 points as the Panthers defeated the North Carolina School of Science and Math 73-54 in Durham. Last week, Thompson scored 27 points as Orange knocked off Carrboro 61-58 in Hillsborough, handing the Jaguars its first loss of the season. On Friday night, Thompson added 30 points against Riverside. In his freshman season, Orange men’s coach Derryl Britt called Thompson up to the varsity team during the Eastern Guilford Holiday Hoops tournament. He’s been on varsity ever since with his prolific 3-point shooting. Last winter, during the pandemic-shortened season, Thompson scored 32 points in Orange’s 65-62 win at Vance County. He scored in double-figures in eleven of Orange’s 12 games in 2021, including 23 points against Cedar Ridge on February 5. Thompson returns to action on Tuesday night when Orange hosts Western Alamance.

After he scored 41 points in the opening game of his senior season, it would be easy for Jerec Thompson’s teammates on the Orange men’s basketball team to let him carry the load down the stretch of tight games.

But that’s not the recipe for success.

Instead, against Carrboro on Tuesday night at Panther Gymnasium, it was another Thompson that came through with the biggest play of the game.

With the game tied 56-56 with 2:26 remaining, Thompson did a flashy crossover to shake Carrboro point guard Ti’von Bird, then drilled a 3-pointer to put Orange (2-3) ahead for good. Joshua Jackson hit enough free throws in the final minute as Orange pulled out a 61-58 victory over Carrboro for the Panthers first home win of the season.

Jerec Thompson finished with 27 points, including 21 in the first half. Ethan Stutts led Carrboro (3-1) with 19 points, but was scoreless in the final quarter.

J.J. Thompson had all nine of his points off three-pointers in the final five minutes of regulation.

“That’s not unexpected,” said Orange coach Darryl Britt. “We’ve been preaching for J.J. to do this type of thing the whole time. Luckily he knocked them down tonight. I hope in the future, we won’t have to push him so hard because everybody is going to try to take J.T. (Jerec Thompson) away at times like that.”

After J.J.’s crossover three-pointer, Carrboro’s L.J. Riggsbee scored off a rebound and was fouled by Orange’s Ryan Moss with 2:08 remaining. But Riggsbee missed the subsequent free throw that would have tied the game and the Jaguars didn’t score again.

Thompson’s 3-pointer turned out to be the final field goal of the game. Jackson, who finished with nine points, made three big three throws in the final minute. Carrboro had several chances to even the game in the waning minutes, but Jerec Thompson and Darius Corbett came up with crucial rebounds after Jaguars misses from the field. With under a minute remaining, Carrboro forced a steal and broke out in transition set to tie the game, but the Jaguars were called for traveling.

Orange didn’t trail in the first half, but its largest lead was seven. After Jackson opened the game with a 3-pointer, Thompson drained consecutive 3-pointers in the first quarter, including one from 30-feet to put Orange in the lead for the remainder of the half. Jackson was fouled on a 3-pointer on the subsequent possession, and made two free throws.

Stutts scored 15 points in the first half for the Jaguars. Carrboro had three chances to even the game in the second quarter, but the Panthers came up with stops on every trip.

Riggsbee put the Jaguars ahead in the third quarter after two free throws.

Tuesday’s game was the start of a five-game homestead for Orange. They will host Riverside on Friday night.

WOMEN’S GAME: ORANGE 68, CARRBORO 36

Two Orange women’s players had career-highs as the Lady Panthers defeated Carrboro 68-36 on Tuesday night.

Senior guard Samantha George put up 23 points on 10-of-13 shooting from the field, including both of her 3-point attempts. Last Thursday, George had a career-high of 19 points in a win over the North Carolina School of Science and Math in Durham.

Another senior guard, Nikayla Whitted, added eleven points and six steals. Whitted, who played at Gravelly Hill Middle School, reached double-figures for the first time in her career.

Senior point guard Aaliyah Harris added 18 points as Orange improved to 3-2. Jarmil Wingate added eight points.

It was the first home game of the season for Orange. The Lady Panthers opened the season with road trips to Graham, Chapel Hill, Durham and Pittsboro.

Not only did the Orange men’s basketball team win its first home game of the season on Tuesday night. They became the first team to defeat Carrboro this season. The Panthers held off the Jaguars 61-58 at Panther Gymnasium. Senior guard J.J. Thompson save his best for last, scoring all nine of his points off three 3-pointers in the final five minutes. The biggest came with 2:26 remaining when Thompson drilled a 20-footer following a sweet crossover that shook the Jaguars point guard. Senior guard Joshua Jackson hit three big free throws in the final minute as Orange improved to 2-3. Jackson started with five points in the opening quarter. Senior guard Jerec Thompson led all scorers with 27 points, including 21 in the first half. Orange will return home to face Riverside on Friday night in Hillsborough.