Orange Men’s Basketball

Even on a night when Orange’s high octane offense was slow to reach full efficiency, the Panthers still captured a wire-to-wire win on the road.

The Panthers are only three wins away from the Central Conference championship after beating Walter Williams 64-51 in Burlington on Tuesday night. Sophomore Coleman Cloer led Orange (10-10, 8-0 in the Central Conference) with 23 points, while sophomore point guard Kai Wade added 18 points as the Panthers defeated the Bulldogs for the fourth straight time.

Cloer now has three straight 20-point games. He has scored 20 or more points in six of the last seven contests, including a season-high 30 points against Western Alamance on January 3.

Williams (11-7, 3-5) was led by center Milton Turner with 17 points.

In eight conference games thus far, Orange hasn’t trailed in five of them. Against the Bulldogs, Xandrell Pennix, Cloer and Wade each hit three-pointers to open the game as Orange opened with a 9-2 lead. Turner scored six of the Bulldogs eight points in the opening quarter, but the Panthers led 17-8 at the end of the first stanza.

Williams outscored the Panthers 18-11 in the second quarter. Center Sam Rhodes scored three field goals in the second frame while Charlie Smith and Turner each knocked down three-pointers to cut the Panther lead to 31-26 at halftime.

The Bulldogs had its chances to make it a one-possession game in the third quarter after Rhodes and Amarion Richmond scored early. Orange sophomore forward Mason Robinson drained a crucial jump shot from the baseline while getting fouled by Rhodes to push the Panther lead to 46-35. Eventually, the Panthers stretched its advantage back to 57-41 behind drives from Wade, who had 12 points in the second half.

Pennix added eleven points for the Panthers, who are 7-0 since the start of 2024. Orange now leads Eastern Alamance by two games for first place in the Central Conference with four games remaining. The Panthers will travel to Cedar Ridge, its third straight road game, on Friday night.

SOUTHERN ALAMANCE 52, CEDAR RIDGE 44: In its fight to stay in the Central Conference championship race, the Patriots broke open a halftime tie to top the Red Wolves inside Cedar Ridge Gymnasium on Tuesday night.

Southern Alamance shot 8-of-11 from the field in the 3rd quarter, starting the second half on a 9-0 run to stay ahead for good. The Patriots’ Evan Jacobson started with a 3-pointer off an assist from Tyler Moore on the first possession of the third quarter. Josiah Aiken paced Southern Alamance with 16 points while Jordan Moore had eleven points and seven rebounds.

The Patriots improved to 12-8 overall, 5-3 in the Central Conference.

Cedar Ridge senior Landon Dalehite paced the Red Wolves with 15 points. Junior Braden Wilbourn had 14 points and seven rebounds. The Red Wolves (3-17, 1-7) got eleven rebounds from senior Harrison Perel.

Southern Alamance built a 15-8 lead after a jumper by Moore early in the second quarter. Cedar Ridge reeled off eight straight points to take a 16-15 lead starting with two free throws by Dalehite and consecutive jumpers by freshman Jordan Jacobson. Perel set up a lay-in by Wilbourn to put the Red Wolves ahead 16-15. The two teams traded the lead in the final minutes of the first half. Dalehite hit two more free throws to give the Red Wolves a 20-18 lead, but Aiken scored on a stickback basket to tie the game 22-22 at halftime.

Aiken capped Southern Alamance’s 8-0 run to open the second half with another basket off an offensive rebound. Dalehite responded with a 3-pointer, then assisted on a lay-in by Wilbourn to cut the Patriots’ lead to 33-30. That was as close as the Red Wolves would get as the Patriots went on a 10-0 run. Southern Alamance’s Chris Epps came off the bench to score five straight points, including a corner three-pointer. Moore scored off a strip and steal to end the third quarter with the Patriots in control at 40-30.

The Orange men’s basketball team is three wins away from its first conference championship since the 2016-2017 season. On Friday night, Orange went into Elon and never trailed in beating Western Alamance 76-50. The Panthers placed four players in double figures. Junior Michael Clark played the final 12 minutes and scored a season-high eleven points as Orange improved to 7-0 in the Central Conference. Sophomore Coleman Cloer scored 16 points to lead all scorers. It was the fourth time in six games that Orange led wire-to-wire. The Warriors got an early three-pointer from Chris Hester to tie the game at 3-3, but Orange never trailed as they improved to 8-10. Sophomore forward Mason Robinson had several huge dunks, including one in the opening quarter that even left some Warriors fans high-fiving each other. Robinson also had five blocks. Orange’s bench unit of Freddy Sneed, Hector Garrido, Keaton Westbrook, Ryan Moss, Malykahi Justice kept the Warriors in check as Orange piled up 76 points. The Panthers lead Eastern Alamance by two games in the loss column with four games remaining in the regular season. Orange will travel to Cedar Ridge on Friday night to face the Red Wolves. It will be Orange’s third straight road game. They will look to beat the Red Wolves for the seventh straight time.

Orange men’s basketball’s Mason Robinson & Michael Clark discuss win over Western Alamance

The Orange men’s basketball team is three wins away from its first conference championship since the 2016-2017 season. On Friday night, Orange went into Elon and never trailed in beating Western Alamance 76-50. The Panthers placed four players in double figures.

The Orange men’s basketball team have a two-game lead against Eastern Alamance and Southern Alamance in the Central Conference. The Panthers defeated Eastern Alamance 75-67 on Tuesday night. Sophomore point guard Kai Wade had 20 points, four rebounds and two assists as the Panthers won its fifth straight. It was a season-high in scoring for Wade, who has had double-digit points in eleven of the 14 games he has played this year. Wade had the game-tying jumper with eight seconds remaining against Hillside in the season-opener on November 17, which led to the game-winning shot by Malachi Poole. Coleman Cloer led the Panthers with 27 points against Eastern Alamance. It was Orange’s fourth straight win over the Eagles. Orange is searching for its first conference championship in men’s basketball since the 2016-2017 season. Wade has helped direct the Orange offense since he started as a freshman last year. The Panthers will start the second half of its Central Conference slate against Western Alamance in Elon on Friday night. The Panthers face a stiff challenge in the final three weeks of the regular season. Of its final six regular season games, five of them will be on the road. Next week, the Panthers will travel to Walter Williams, then drive across town to take on Cedar Ridge inside Red Wolves Gymnasium.

Orange men’s basketball coach Derryl Britt & point guard Kai Wade discuss win over Eastern Alamance

The Orange men’s basketball team have a two-game lead against Eastern Alamance and Southern Alamance in the Central Conference. The Panthers defeated Eastern Alamance 75-67 on Tuesday night. Sophomore point guard Kai Wade had 20 points, four rebounds and two assists as the Panthers won its fifth straight.

Photo by Jacques Morin 

In golf, you make the turn when you’re halfway done with your round.

The Orange men’s basketball team has made the turn in Central Conference play. For the past seven years, they’ve been playing catch up against Northwood or Southern Durham, depending on which league they were in.

Now, everyone in the Central Conference is chasing them.

Eastern Alamance arrived to Hillsborough on Tuesday night trying to pull the Panthers back down to the pack in league play, but the Orange sophomores wouldn’t allow it.

Coleman Cloer finished with 27 points while Kai Wade added 20 as Orange defeated the Eagles 75-67 in front of a near-capacity crowd at Panther Gymnasium. Orange (8-10, 6-0 in the Central Conference) leads Southern Alamance by one game for first place in the league.

The Panthers are looking for its first conference title since the 2016-2017 season.

While the Eagles were blown out by 38 points in its last trip to Hillsborough, they have been the surprise of the league this year under new coach Parrish Walker and roster additions like Jordan Matthews and Ja’vier Tinnin. Eastern Alamance went into last week tied with Orange for first place before losing to Southern Alamance in overtime.

On Tuesday, Wade directed the Orange offense like a conductor with a symphony. Then again, perhaps James Hetfield directing Metallica would be a better analogy because Wade was as subtle as a bomb. He relentlessly drove to the basket and forced fouls against the Eagles. The Panthers finished with 32 free throws and only eight turnovers, a season-low.

“Kai played great tonight,” said Orange coach Darryl Britt. “As always, he’s the floor general. He controls tempo and pace. Him and Cole are my extension on the floor. Everything Kai did, he did well.”

Matthews paced the Eagles (12-6, 4-2) with 21 points and eleven rebounds, his fourth double-double of the season.

The Eagles shot 9-of-11 from the field in the first quarter with Tinnen racking up seven assists. Amari Gibbs scooped a stickleback shot from under the basket at the quarter buzzer to put the Eagles ahead 21-19.

Orange led 34-33 at half-time. In the second half, Wade and Cloer constantly attacked the basket, which led to several Eastern Alamance starters getting in foul trouble.

With 5:25 remaining in the third quarter, Wade sank his patented pull-up jumper and scored over Tinnen, who was whistled for his third foul. Wade’s free throw tied the game at 40-40 while Tinnen, who finished with a season-high 12 assists, left the game. The Eagles offense didn’t flow the same without him.

The Panthers immediately went on a 12-0 run with all the points coming from Cloer and Wade, culminating with a steal by Xandrell Pennix. In transition, Wade handed off to Cloer, who sank a uncontested three-pointer, vaulting the Panthers ahead 49-40.

Matthews kept the Eagles in it during the fourth quarter, scoring 17 of his 21 points in the second half. Matthews opened the final frame with a lay-in to cut the Orange lead to 54-52, but Mason Robinson caught a gorgeous hook-around pass from senior Ryan Moss for a two-handed dunk. That launched a 8-2 Orange run that included Cloer scoring off a dunk following a steal.

With Orange leading 62-55, Robinson stuffed a drive by Matthews. Pennix captured the loose ball, drove the length of the floor and collided with the Eagles’ Anthony Weaver in mid-air. Pennix  banked the shot in while Weaver was whistled for his fourth foul. Pennix completed the three-point play to increase the Orange advantage to 65-55.

Orange senior center Ryan Honeycutt finished with 15 points and eight rebounds.

The back nine of the Central Conference slate will be tricky for Orange. Of their final six conference games, five are on the road, starting with Friday’s trip to Western Alamance. The only home game will be against Southern Alamance, who lost a 5-point lead with :28 remaining in Graham against Orange on December 14. Orange escaped with a 72-68 win in overtime.

But Orange is at the turn now and they won’t be hard to find as the back nine begins.

They’re the ones on top.

Photo by Carly Williams 

Two minutes and ten seconds.

For the past three years, the Person Rockets have been the ones asking questions and the Orange Panthers were stuck trying to answer them. Too often, the Rockets size, speed, range and experience would riddle the Panthers into submission.

Until late on Friday night when Orange found the answer….which was two minutes and ten seconds.

A possession that Orange may have never had before and, with a shot clock inevitably on the horizon in North Carolina high school basketball, may never have again. But it led to the Panthers’ first win over Person since 2014.

Orange led 60-56 with 2:43 remaining in regulation when coach Derryl Britt called timeout. Up to that point, Orange and Person had played at a consistent pace which led to sloppiness as the stakes got higher and the minutes fading away. Orange’s Xandrell Pennix had just thrown the ball away that was stolen by Person’s DaeJon Hodge, who immediately turned it right back over when he threw a pass to Lance Clarke that went to the Orange cheerleaders instead.

Britt preached patience to his team in the huddle.

“I told them they weren’t expecting us to run clock here,” Britt said. “And we’re not going to help them by forcing our offense.”

So Kai Wade, Coleman Cloer, Freddy Sneed, Pennix and Malachi Poole (who substituted in for center Ryan Honeycutt) succeeded in gradually taking the life out of Person’s chances. When Orange started the possession, Person’s top scorer, Lance Clarke, had two fouls. Then he picked up his third and fourth fouls defending Cloer.

With 1:18 remaining, Pennix threw a pass out of the right corner to Cloer, who hit Wade on the wing. Wade found an opening in the paint, but stumbled over Clarke’s foot. The whistle and foul on Clarke was his fifth.

And with that, Britt’s plan to suck the life out of the Rockets worked to perfection.

Person simply didn’t have another offensive weapon to rely on and didn’t score in the final 3:43 aside from a meaningless field goal from Hodge in the waning seconds. Cloer drained three key free throws as Orange won 63-58.

Cloer led Orange with 27 points. But the X-factor, pardon the pun, was Xandrell Pennix, who scored 17 points off 5-of-12 shooting from 3-point range. It was the first time in five career games against Person that Pennix finished in double-figures.

Wade finished with eleven points and nine assists.

Clarke led Person with 22 points off 5-of-9 shooting from 3-point range. Hodge was the only other Rocket in double-figures with 12 points.

The win kept Orange tied with Eastern Alamance for first place in the loss column in the Central Conference at 5-0. Person (9-5, 0-3) dropped its fourth straight.

Any Orange win over Person comes the hard way. Friday night was no different. After Orange took home wire-to-wire wins in its opening three games of 2024, they never led in the first half. Person stormed out to a 10-3 lead, behind three-pointers from Clarke and Jordan Lunsford. Pennix drained his first three-pointer off a pass from Cloer, but the Rockets’ C.J. Hunt canceled that out with his own shot from downtown that kicked around the iron three times before dropping in, leading to plenty of rolling eyes along the Orange bench.

The Rockets extended its lead to 26-16 following a three-pointer from Quante Bowman, his only field goal, with 5;57 remaining in the second quarter. Wade started a late Orange run with his own basket from beyond the arc, then moved the Panthers to 26-23 after a lay-in. Clarke and Hodge each sank shots in the final minute of the first half to send Person to the locker room with a 35-30 lead.

Clark and Lunsford extended Person’s lead to 39-30 to open the second half, but Orange’s defense settled in for the remainder of the game. Person hit six 3-pointers in the first half, but were limited to only two in the second.

Cloer went on a personal 7-0 run to move the Panthers within 39-37. After consecutive 3-pointers from Pennix, Cloer hit a free-throw with 2:07 remaining in the third quarter to tie the game for the first time. Following a free throw by Bowman, Wade stole the ball from Hodge and fed Cloer down the floor, who flushed the ball down with one-hand to give the Panthers its first lead of the game.

The game was tied 48-48 going into the fourth quarter. Cloer opened the frame with a 20-footer where he wound up on his back. Person’s Lamont Johnson came back with a stickleback field goal, but Pennix responded with another three-pointer. Clark came back with his own trey, followed by a lay-in from Lunsford to give the Rockets the lead by one.

Pennix drained another big shot off a pass from Cloer to put Orange ahead 57-55, and the Rockets went the subsequent 5:31 without a field goal.

Orange’s last home win over Person was on December 4, 2013, though Person has played inside Panthers Gymnasium only three times since then.