Orange Men’s Basketball

For the Orange men’s basketball team, the Central Conference regular season started with a wild comeback win in Graham. It ended on Friday night with another wire-to-wire win, this time in Mebane. Cole Cloer scored 31 points as the Panthers defeated Eastern Alamance 79-74 at Tay Jobe Gymnasium. Orange roared out to a 21-3 lead. Sophomore point guard Kai Wade scored seven of Orange’s first nine points. The Eagles, playing on its senior night, made a big charge and actually narrowed its deficit to six points by halftime. Orange junior Xandrell Pennix came up with an incredible three-point play midway through the fourth quarter as he banked in a shot off a behind-the-back drive to the basket while getting fouled by A.J. Weaver. With senior Ryan Honeycutt injured, junior forward Freddy Sneed came up with ten points as the Panthers won the Central Conference regular season championship by three games. Orange will play in the Central Conference Tournament on Tuesday. The top seed, the Panthers will receive a bye into the semifinals and will await the winner of Walter Williams vs. Person. Regardless of the result between Person and Williams, Orange will play at Person High School Tuesday night at 7;30. Orange hasn’t won a conference tournament since February 2016. 

Orange men’s basketball’s Xandrell Pennix & Freddy Sneed discuss win at Eastern Alamance

For the Orange men’s basketball team, the Central Conference regular season started with a wild comeback win in Graham. It ended on Friday night with another wire-to-wire win, this time in Mebane. Cole Cloer scored 31 points as the Panthers defeated Eastern Alamance 79-74 at Tay Jobe Gymnasium.

Last Friday night, the Orange men’s basketball team needed some parts to fall together in order to secure its first regular season conference championship in seven years. They needed to defeat Southern Alamance, plus had to have Person beat Eastern Alamance in Roxboro. Fortunately for Orange, the basketball gods smiled. The Panthers crushed the Patriots 93-39, while the Rockets rallied to beat the Eagles. While Orange wouldn’t celebrate the conference title until later since the Person game ended long after the Panthers were done, they did commemorate senior night. Ryan Honeycutt, Ryan Moss and Malykhai Justice were honored in a pregame ceremony. Honeycutt led the team with 8.8 rebounds per game before he suffered a broken thumb against Cedar Ridge on February 2. He also paced the Panthers shooting 58% from the field. Moss has been a member of the Panthers since his freshman year when players had to suit up in a mask due to the pandemic. In the past four years, Moss has been a steady outside shooter when coach Derryl Britt has needed a presence from deep. Justice joined the varsity team for this season just months after being selected All-Central Conference in football. Last season, Justice was tied for the team lead in sacks. Early in the season, as forward Coleman Cloer was nursing an injured ankle, Justice started several games. Orange will finish out the regular season against Eastern Alamance on Friday night in Mebane. They will open play in the Central Conference Tournament next Tuesday night in Roxboro.

Orange’s Ryan Honeycutt, Malykhai Justice & Ryan Moss discuss win on Senior Night

Last Friday night, the Orange men’s basketball team needed some parts to fall together in order to secure its first regular season conference championship in seven years. They needed to defeat Southern Alamance, plus had to have Person beat Eastern Alamance in Roxboro. Fortunately for Orange, the basketball gods smiled.

ROXBORO–In a best-case scenario, the Orange men’s basketball team could have wrapped up the Central Conference regular season championship in Roxboro on Tuesday night.

But the terms “best-case scenario” and “Roxboro” never belong in a sentence together for Orange.

Certainly not on Tuesday night.

As Person defeated Orange 74-68 in Rockets Gymnasium, the race for the conference championship suddenly got more interesting on several fronts.

Orange (11-11, 9-1 in the Central Conference) now leads Eastern Alamance by one game in the loss column for first place with nine days remaining in the regular season. The Eagles defeated Cedar Ridge 72-50 in Mebane on Tuesday to improve to 7-2 in the Central Conference.

Following its Senior Night contest against Southern Alamance this Friday, Orange will travel to face Eastern Alamance on the final night of the regular season February 16.

It was Orange’s fourth straight loss inside Rockets Gymnasium. The Panthers haven’t won in Roxboro since December 15, 2015.

Orange center Ryan Honeycutt, the only senior to regularly start for the Panthers, will miss the rest of the season after suffering a broken thumb following a hard foul against Cedar Ridge in the third quarter on Friday night. Honeycutt’s thumb was in a cast as he watched the game from the bench and won’t be removed for another six weeks, which will cut into baseball season, his top sport.

Losing Honeycutt removed a top finisher and a valuable, experienced rebounder for an Orange team that was fully healthy for the past 12 games, a stretch where the Panthers had gone 9-3 and had won eight straight. Without him, Orange’s offense looked off kilter against the Rockets early.

Then Orange’s leading scorer, Coleman Cloer, was hit with three fouls in the opening quarter, two of which came off the ball. It forced Cloer, who wasn’t called for a foul in either of Orange’s two games last week, to the bench for the entire second quarter.

Not that Cloer was alone in getting in foul trouble. Person’s top two scorers, Lance Clarke and DaeJon Hodge, each picked up two fouls in the first half. Clarke didn’t play in the second quarter, either.

But Person still had finishers. Orange’s last lead in the game came at 4-2 following a drive by sophomore Kai Wade. Without Honeycutt there to close out on him, Hodge drained a series of short, baseline jumpers to put Person ahead 6-4. When Cloer picked up his third foul on an offensive foul on the weak side trying to gain position against Clarke, the Panthers went into a tailspin.

Person went on a 14-2 run that included two more jumpers from Hodge and a three-pointer from Quante Bowman that gave Person its largest lead at 20-8. The only period Orange’s offense was in a rhythm came in the final 4:30 of the second quarter when its three-quarters court press began creating turnovers. Junior Xandrell Pennix led the charge with eleven points in the second quarter, including two three-pointers. Orange finished the half on a 9-2 run behind two 3-pointers from Pennix and got within a point following a lay-in from Freddy Sneed.

In Orange’s 63-58 win over Person in Hillsborough last month, they hit ten 3-pointers. On Tuesday night, they were limited to four.

Cloer, limited to three points in the first half, came out like a hungry animal in the second half. He tied the game at 39-39 following a three-pointer from the corner where Orange got a rare fortunate bounce off a Person rim. The Rockets quickly summoned the lead for good when Clarke scored on a baseline jumper from 15-feet. Person’s Romello Snow, who didn’t score in the first meeting with Orange, dropped a quickly finger roll, the last of his eight points. After Sneed responded for Orange, Clarke drained a 3-pointer to put Person ahead 46-41.

The Rockets got balanced scoring in the fourth quarter to pull away. Reserve center Lamont Johnson opened with back-to-back field goals, the first of five different Person players to score in the final eight minutes. After Cloer was called for his fourth foul for using his off arm to shield a Person defender, Hodge hit a wing jumper to give the Rockets a 58-50 lad with 4:00 remaining. Clarke rebounded a miss by Johnson for a lay-in to increase Person’s lead to 60-50.

Cloer scored 19 of Orange’s 21 points in the fourth quarter, but the only other Panther to get on the scoring ledger late was Mason Robinson off a dunk set up by Cloer.

Orange made a late charge behind Cloer and actually got the lead down to 70-68 after he hit three free throws, but Clarke and Bowman each hit two free throws to put the game away.

As Orange left the floor following its first conference loss, the Rockets students showered them with “overrated” chants.

Night in and night out, there’s one looming question riding above most Orange men’s basketball games.

Sophomore Cole Cloer will get his share of points. So will Kai Wade and Xandrell Pennix.

But who will be the X-factor? The player who will make the key block or grab an offensive rebound to score a crucial second-chance basket.

On Friday night, that player was Mason Robinson.

What can you do against a 6-foot-9 sophomore forward with a wide wingspan who is still growing?

As much of a gutsy effort that the Cedar Ridge men’s basketball team provided on Friday night, that was one question they just couldn’t answer.

Robinson finished with ten points, 18 rebounds and seven blocked shots, while Cole Cloer added 24 points as Orange pulled away from the Red Wolves 68-42 at Red Wolves Gymnasium.

With the win, Orange (11-10, 9-0 in the Central Conference) maintained a two-game lead over Eastern Alamance for first place in the Central Conference with three games remaining in the regular season. The Panthers’ victory eliminated Person, the league runner-up last year, from championship contention.

The Red Wolves (3-18, 1-8) were led by senior Harrison Perel, who finished with 12 points and 14 rebounds.

The final score belied the fact it was very much a competitive game in the second half. After the Red Wolves trailed by as many as 31-14 in the first half, they narrowed the deficit down to 40-34 with 1:20 remaining in the third quarter after a three-pointer by Perel and a free throw from Hayden Kirk.

Yet Robinson’s presence loomed largest on the biggest plays. After Cloer drained a 22-footer to increase Orange’s cushion to 43-34, Robinson tipped in an offensive rebound as the third quarter buzzer sounded, which sapped the Red Wolves’ momentum.

“Their length is definitely an issue,” said Cedar Ridge coach Mike Jones. “Even when we get stops and cause an initial miss, it’s hard to keep them off the offensive glass. Even when you beat them off the dribble, they’ve got so much length by the rim. It’s difficult to play against them.”

Orange outrebounded the Red Wolves 55-34. The Panthers had 24 offensive rebounds.

“This was a big game for Mason,” said Orange coach Derryl Britt. “We had him with nine rebounds at halftime and my challenge to him was to get 20. I wanted him to hunt rebounds and hunt blocks. It was a huge game for him. He can have these games every single night if his motor is revved up.”

After Perel opened the fourth quarter with a second-chance basket following a Robinson block, the Panthers went on a 15-3 run to put the game away. Pennix, who finished with six steals, picked off a pass and fed Wade for a lay-in. Honeycutt and Robinson scored consecutive second-chance field goals, followed by a 18-footer from Cloer off yet another Robinson block.

For the sixth time in nine conference games, Orange never trailed. The Panthers opened the game with a 5-0 run, including baskets from Cloer and Robinson. Dalehite drained an early 3-pointer off a pass from Perel to cut the deficit to 8-5.

Orange went on a 19-4 run, starting with Pennix draining a wing jumper. Cloer went on a personal 6-0 run late in the first quarter, which ended with a 3-pointer from Pennix assisted by Robinson.

The Panthers put four players in double figures. Honeycutt came away with ten points and nine rebounds. Pennix finished with eleven points, including an acrobatic finish to the night when he took a pass from Honeycutt and banked in a layup on an up-and-under move where the ball glanced off the top of the backboard and cleanly through the net.

Cedar Ridge held nothing back in its effort right through to the end when Dalehite dove on the floor for a loose ball trailing 61-42 with 2:47 remaining.