Orange Men’s Basketball

Entering Thursday night, the Orange men’s basketball team hadn’t started 3-0 since 2006, at least.

Before they could focus on that, they had to get free from their past. Namely, their most disappointing game from last year, which happened nearly exactly eleven months ago.

Orange led Southern Lee 47-39 with 1:36 remaining, only to have the Cavaliers finish the game on a 13-0 run and scored the game-winning points on a controversial technical foul against the Panther bench.

Southern Lee finished 25-4, won the Tri-County Conference Championship, and only lost 61-58 to Walter Williams in the 2nd round of the 3A State Playoffs. That same Williams team played for the state championship.

Though the Cavaliers have only one returning stater from last year, the Panthers got their revenge on Thursday.

Joey McMullin, one week removed from a career-high 38 points against Research Triangle, scored 27 as the Panthers (3-0) defeated the Cavaliers 70-58.

Junior Jason Franklin added 15 points, his third consecutive game in double figures. Senior Machai Holt added 13.

Quashawn Williams led the Cavaliers (1-5) with 16 points, while Makyi Butler scored 13.

Orange is now off to its best start since the 2005-06 season, at least, and quite likely even further back. They will travel to Southern Alamance for its third game in four days on Friday.

Not that everything was peachy. McMullin hit back-to-back 3-pointers to lift the Panthers to a 27-11 lead in the second quarter, but the Cavaliers chipped away at the lead for the rest of the first half.

Orange didn’t score in the final 3:27 of the second quarter, while Southern went on an 10-0 run, punctuated by a 3-point play from backup center J’Quan Smith, who blocked a finger roll by Holt and took the ball coast-to-coast for a lay-in and foul.

“I wasn’t pleased with the last few minutes of the first half,” Orange Coach Derryl Britt said. “However, looking back, we kind of got exactly what we needed because we haven’t been tested yet. Even though we won by 12, we were only up seven at the half. We needed to play under those circumstances against a strong team.”

Williams and Makyi Butler each had three-point plays in the opening minutes of the third quarter to cut Orange’s lead to 35-31. McMullin triggered the run that decided the game with a 3-pointer, which was followed by another trey from Tucker Miller, his only points.

Jerec Thompson hit two free throws with 3:08 remaining to extend Orange’s lead to 43-33, then J.J. Thompson came up with a steal that turned into free throws from McMullin, who also notched Orange’s next field goal on a jump hook. Kendrell Brooks scored his only points on a snowbird to cap a 14-2 Orange run.

McMullin ended last season with a 27-point game at Southern Durham in the Big 8 Conference Tournament quarterfinals.

The Panthers led 17-6 at the end of the first quarter, closing the frame on a 7-0 run. That included a three-pointer from Franklin and a lay-in by Machai Holt that went through the net despite being deflected by Smith.

McMullin hit back-to-back 3-pointers in the second quarter to give Orange a 27-11 lead early in the second quarter.

ORANGE 70, SOUTHERN LEE 58

SOUTHERN LEE: Quashawn Williams 16, Se’Vion Clay 8, Ely-Jah Smith 5, Makyi Butler 13, Gee McDougald 2, RarQuan Simmons 2, Nicholas Locklear 2, J’Quan Smith 7, Randall Upchurch 4.

ORANGE: Jerec Thompson 10, Jason Franklin 15, Machai Holt 13, Joey McMullin 27, Tucker Miller 3, Kendrell Brooks 2.

The Orange men’s basketball team is 3-0 for the first time in 13 years, at least. The Panthers defeated Southern Lee 70-58 on Thursday night at Panther Gymnasium. Machai Holt finished with 13 points. On Tuesday, Orange defeated Granville Central 76-48. Holt finished with 15 points against Central. Coming off a football season where Holt scored 12 touchdowns, he aims to finish his Orange playing career in style this winter for Coach Derryl Britt. On Friday night, the Panthers will play its third game in four days when they travel to Southern Alamance. We’ll have the broadcast on Hillsboroughsports.com starting with the women’s game at 6:30.

This week’s Orange Panther of the Week is senior basketball forward Joey McMullin. Last week in the season-opener against Research Triangle, McMullin established a new career high with 38 points as the Panthers defeated the Raptors 80-62. McMullin was 15-of-25 from the field, including 5-of-8 from three-point range. McMullin has started since his freshman year, when he played alongside current Richmond Spider Connor Crabtree. Together, they led arguably the best team since Orange’s 1969 State Championship team. Orange won the Big 8 Regular Season Championship, the Eastern Guilford Holiday Hoops Championship (by beating Eastern Guilford in the final) and reached the state quarterfinals. On Tuesday night, McMullin scores eleven points as the Panthers rolled past Granville Central 76-48. On Thursday, Orange faces Southern Lee at Orange High Gymnasium, where the Panthers will look to start 3-0 for the first time since at least 2005 when they face Southern Lee. 

For two schools that have only each other twice, Orange and Granville Central have a bond.

Mike McDaniel graduated from Orange in 1992, when he was an All-PAC 6 linebacker for the most successful Panther team of the 90s. He went on to be an assistant coach with Orange in the mid-2000s before leaving for Stem to build his own brand.

Derryl Britt was once a coach at Central before becoming the North Carolina School of Science and Math as an assistant. He still lives in Granville County and figured McDaniel would take the Orange job when it opened in 2018 following the departure of Greg Motley. When McDaniel opted to stay in Stem, Britt was hired away from Warren County.

Last year, Orange defeated Central in a barnburner in front of a heated, packed gym in Granville. On Tuesday night at a solid crowd in Hillsborough, the only thing that was hot was Orange’s shooting.

Sophomore Jerec Thompson scored a career-high 25 points to guide the Panthers to a 76-48 win over Central in Hillsborough. Thompson scored eleven points on his first four shots as the Panthers led wire-to-wire for the second straight game.

Senior Machai Holt added 15 points as the Panthers started a span of three games in four days. They host Southern Lee on Thursday in Hillsborough, then travel to Southern Alamance on Friday.

Britt, who was pressed into the awkward situation of replacing Orange’s all-time winningest coach last August, used this summer to put his imprint on what is now his program. During the annual summer camp at Guilford College, Britt believes the team grew closer.

“Camaraderie is better this year,” Britt said. “We’re much more of a team this year. I attribute that to the second year of the guys being in the system. They came into the season understanding the system better after a really good summer and the expectations better.”

Behind Thompson’s hot shooting and Machai Holt’s finishing ability, Orange jumped out to a 15-4 lead. Holt scored 15 points, one of four Panthers in double figures.

Jason Franklin added eleven points, while senior Joey McMullin added 10. McMullin started the year with a career-high 38 points in the season-opener against Research Triangle.

Next up for Orange will be Southern Lee, who handed the Panthers a bitter loss on January 2 in Sanford. The Panthers led 47-39 with 1:36 remaining before the Cavaliers finished the game on a 13-0 run to win 52-47.

With the game tied, Holt tried to dribble through a double team and fell to the floor. There was no whistle, leading to an immediate Orange protest from the bench. In the heat of the moment, a referee called a technical foul with ten seconds remaining in the game on an Orange assistant because he left his seat.

The game-winning free throws were scored on the technical free throws.

Southern Lee finished 25-4 and won the Tri-County Conference Championship. That loss may have cost Orange a trip to the state playoffs.

While Southern Lee graduated six players from that team over the summer, the memory of that loss remains vivid in Britt’s mind.

“I have not forgotten about that one at all,” Britt said. “That game sticks in my mind. The details are burned into my mind. We’re going to play as good a ball as we can play.”

Orange sophomore Jerec Thompson scored eleven points on his first four shots on Tuesday night as the Panthers defeated Granville Central 76-48 in Hillsborough. Thompson finished with a career-high 25 points, including five 3-pointers in the first half. Thompson was called up to the varsity squad last December during the Eastern Guilford Holiday Hoops Tournament in Gibsonville. Since then, he has become a regular rotation player for Coach Derryl Britt. Thompson’s previous career-high came against Chapel Hill, when he scored 21 Points on February 8 against Chapel Hill in a 66-65 win. Orange will host Southern Lee on Thursday in Hillsborough trying to avenge a bitter loss from last January. Orange is 2-0.

Orange’s Jason Franklin started the 2019-20 season with 15 points as the Panthers defeated Research Triangle 80-62 on Monday night at Panther Gymnasium. Franklin and Joey McMullin combined to hit 3-pointers on four straight Panther possessions to push Orange out to a 16-2 lead. Orange went on to a wire-to-wire win. Afterwards, Franklin talked with Hillsboroughsports.com’s Curran Campbell. Franklin is in his third season at the varsity level. To prepare for the rigors of basketball season, he played soccer for Orange coach Palmer Bowman this fall. Next week, Orange will have three games in four days. They entertain Granville Central on Tuesday night in Hillsborough, then host Southern Lee on Thursday, also in Hillsborough. Orange travels to Southern Alamance on Friday. 

By Tim Hackett

Orange lost the opening tip of the 2019-20 season, allowing Research Triangle a chance at the game’s first points. But the Panthers’ defense forced a quick turnover, and Machai Holt sprung a streaking Joey McMullin with a skip pass for a layup and the opening salvo seconds in. 

And that was just the beginning. Sweltering half-court defense. Countless turnovers. About a dozen three-pointers. One huge second-half run. 38 Joey McMullin points. All that added up to an 80-62 Orange (1-0) victory over the Research Triangle Raptors (3-1) in the Panthers’ season opener – an 18-point margin of victory that rarely seemed that secure. 

In truth, for a few minutes in the first quarter it seemed like the Panthers were primed for a blowout. It was a 3A vs. 1A matchup in this makeshift meeting following the cancellation of Orange’s scheduled opener on Friday, but dismissing Research Triangle as “just a 1A team” would have been rash – this was a Raptors team fresh off a 23-win season, and one that had started 2019 with three more wins, all by an average of nearly 30 points a game. But even still, Orange nearly ran the Raptors off the floor in the first period – McMullin and Jason Franklin combined to hit threes on four straight Panther possessions to balloon the early edge out to 16-2, allowing Derryl Britt the chance to swap out all five of his floor players at once, hockey style, to test out some of his other pieces. The Raptors had barely been able to cross half court against Orange’s starters, and they found more success against the reserves, but the hosts had still built a 25-12 lead after one period. 

Both teams showcased tenacious, unrelenting pressure defense, and, more impressively, maintained that pressure for almost the entire game. Orange worked in a three-quarter-court press most of the evening, and Research Triangle often countered with a half-court press once the second quarter began. That led to countless rushed passes, intercepted passes, and straight up bad passes from both sides, but once a team was able to get down the floor, they were both able to finish with relative ease. Orange kept the visitors at arm’s length, however, and held a 44-27 lead as the teams headed to halftime. 

Orange had controlled the game throughout, but the Raptors had hung around. It seemed that Orange was searching for one more solid run to put them ahead for good – but they couldn’t find it. Instead, the Raptors cranked up the pressure even further, and converted seemingly every Orange turnover into a bucket, and Raptor shots that didn’t fall in the first half started to roll in. Barry Marrow hit shots from inside. Eli Griffith hit shots from out. Elliott Klappenbach dominated both boards en route to a 20-point day. And the Raptors closed the third quarter on a 17-7 run to shrink the Panther lead down to 57-51 with one period left. 

The flashy, frenetic Orange offense was the highlight of the first half, but, at this moment, truly tested in the contest for the first time, the Panther defense locked in, restricting the Raptors to just two field goals for the entire final period – and the second came on a layup as the final buzzer sounded. On the other side, Jacob Thompson hit a pair of threes, Tucker Miller hit a handful of free throws, and McMullin hit just about every shot he attempted as part of a career-high 38-point outburst, and Orange walked away with an 80-62 win. 

It had been 280 days since Orange closed the 2018-19 season with a lopsided loss to Southern. But interestingly for a team with no seniors last year, this year’s Orange team looks quite a bit different. Of course, there’s no more Mekai Collins, who headed back to Cedar Ridge to finish where he started, and Zyon Pettiford was conspicuously absent from the preseason roster. But Orange clearly has some pieces in place to improve on a 10-18 season last year, especially when most baseline stats painted the Panthers as a better-than-average team in spite of that worse-than-average record. Thompson and Franklin showed some poise and some handles as the primary ball carriers. Kendrell Brooks and Jacobi Harris combined for 13 crucial points off the bench in different roles with Holt in foul trouble most of the night. And then, of course, there’s McMullin, who was nearly perfect from the line and beyond the arc in the best performance of his career. For now, the Panthers can be pleased with their offensive performance against a team that looks poised to produce at the 1A level again – but they’ll know that without their defensive performance, Monday night’s result might have looked quite a bit different. 

When he was a freshman, Joey McMullin started regularly with Connor Crabtree, who scored 44 points against Southern Durham on February 17, 2016. In Orange’s season opener against Research Triangle on Monday night, McMullin piled up 38 points, the most by any Panther since Crabtree’s game three years ago. It was quite a start to McMullin’s senior year as the Panthers wrapped up a wire-to-wire 80-62 victory over the Raptors at Orange High Gymnasium. Afterward, McMullin spoke with Hillsboroughsports.com’s Curran Campbell. McMullin’s previous career-high was 27 points, also against Southern Durham in the final game of last season. Orange won its season-opener for the third year in a row. Now, they’ll enjoy the rest of Thanksgiving week off and get ready for Granville Central on December third in Hillsborough.