Orange Men’s Basketball

CREEDMOOR–There were moments of desperation that turned into outright panic, a 7-point lead nearly blown in the final minute and two occasions were Orange somehow found itself on defense with the game on the line.

Yet it was still gloriously better than Orange’s last journey to South Granville in 2019.

And, unlike that horrendous previous trip, Orange came away victorious, even if the path to victory was filled with every unexpected bump, bounce, flip and stumble one could imagine along the way.

The Panthers defeated Rolesville 73-70 in the opening game of the Navy Bracket of the South Granville Holiday Invitational at South Granville High School on Monday afternoon. Orange advances to the semifinals to face Cary on Wednesday at 4. The Imps defeated J.F. Webb 66-53 on Monday night.

With two low-post players out of the lineup, Orange coach Darryl Britt called up junior Amare Morgan from the junior varsity squad over Christmas week. Morgan started his first varsity game and had 15 points, including three 3-pointers. Senior Jerec Thompson, who missed three games last week while in quarantine, led all scorers with 33 points, including some crucial free throws late.

It was the third time in five games that Thompson had scored 30 points or more for Orange (3-7).

Orange won for the first time in the South Granville Holiday Invitational. In 2019, the Panthers came into the tournament 7-1 with consecutive wins over East Chapel Hill and defending 3A State Champion Walter Williams. Yet Orange limped away from Creedmoor with losses to Sanderson, Franklinton and Green Hope.

It was the first time in Coach Derryl Britt’s four-year stint that the Panthers won the opening game of any tournament. In 2018, the Panthers finished fifth in the Eastern Guilford Holiday Invitational, but dropped the opener to Northeast Guilford in Gibsonville.

Orange led 69-62 with 1:36 remaining after Thompson rebounded his own miss and stuck it back in from point blank range. Shortly afterwards, Rolesville guard Jayden Michael was fouled by Thompson, which was followed by a technical foul on an Orange guard. Michael hit only one of the subsequent four foul shots.

On the ensuing Rams possession, Michael found himself again at the foul line after a foul against Orange’s Kaleb Barnhardt. Michael, which had two free throws rim out on his previous trip, had another limp out before sinking another to cut Orange’s lead to 69-64.

After a Thompson miss, Isaac Tatum hit a running one-hander, then poked the ball away from Orange’s J.J. Thompson, slid 15-feet across the slick Columbia blue floor on a humid December afternoon, somehow avoided a travel and called timeout. With a chance to tie with 48 seconds remaining, Rolesville’s Lucas Seubert missed a 3-pointer, which was rebounded by Jerec Thompson. After Barnhardt missed a lay-in, Jerec Thompson was fouled and sank two free throws.

With Orange leading 71-66, Michael hit a three-pointer, then poked the ball away from Thompson for a held-ball, which gave it right back to the Rams. With a chance to tie, Thompson poked the ball out of Michael’s hand, dove on the ball and called timeout.

Orange freshman Freddie Sneed hit a free throw with 2.9 seconds remaining, and a desperation heave from midcoast by Tatum missed the goal.

Michael led the Rams (3-7) with 15 points, Seubert added 14.

In the first quarter, Rolesville led 15-9 after two free throws with 49 seconds remaining by Chadwright Wright. Then Orange reeled off 18 consecutive points, started with two free throws from Morgan, followed by a Thompson 3-pointer off an assist from Darius Corbett that beat the quarter buzzer to cut the Rams’ lead to 15-14.

Corbett went coast-to-coast on a lay-in to open the second quarter to put Orange ahead 16-15, a lead they would remarkably not lose for the rest of the game. Thompson added another 3-pointer off a shot fake, then buried another, followed by a 3-pointer from Ryan Moss to increase the Orange advantage to 25-15. Joshua Jackson scored off a lay-in on transition.

The Rams quickly narrowed its deficit to single digits behind a 3-pointer from Lucas Seubert and two field goals from Chadwick Wright, reducing Orange’s lead to 34-31 at the break.

ORANGE 73, ROLESVILLE 70

ROLESVILLE: Jayden Michael 15, Lucas Seubert 14, Michael Downing 4, Jordan Saddler 6, Ibukun Adewumi 6, Isaac Tatum 11, Chadwick Wright 9, Tyler King 3, Logan Huff 2.

ORANGE: Jerec Thompson 33, J.J. Thompson 4, Darius Corbett 7, Isaiah Seymour 2, Amare Morgan 15, Ryan Moss 7, Joshua Jackson 4, Freddie Sneed 1.

It was certainly a much more joyful ride home for the Orange men’s basketball team on Monday than the last time they played in the South Granville Holiday Invitational Tournament. A big reason why was because of junior Amare Morgan and senior Jerec Thompson. Orange defeated Rolesville 73-70 in the opening round of the Navy Bracket. Morgan, who earned a call up from the junior varsity team, scored 15 points in his first varsity game. In fact, he started at forward and nailed three 3-pointers. Thompson led all scorers with 33 points,, including 4 3-pointers. With Orange leading 72-70, the Rams had a chance to tie with 15 seconds remaining. But Thompson stripped the ball out of a Rolesville guard’s hands and led to Orange’s Freddy Sneed scoring the game’s final point with 2.7 seconds remaining. It was the third time in five games that Thompson has scored 30-or-more points in a game this season. Orange advances to the Navy Bracket semifinals, where they will face Cary on Wednesday afternoon at 4 at South Granville High School.

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.