Orange Men’s Basketball

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.

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.