For nearly a year now, the COVID-19 pandemic has made life grossly unfairly for hundreds of high school students across Hillsborough.
Just when the haze of the virus’ thick cloud seemed to be clearing, there was an extra dose of cruelty for Hillsborough basketball on Monday.
Cedar Ridge had to cancel its remaining games to go into quarantine (more on that later this week). So did the Northern Durham men’s team, which was supposed to face Orange on Friday in Hillsborough
Orange seniors Jason Franklin and Kyle Stanley woke up Sunday thinking their final game inside Panther Gymnasium would be Friday night. Suddenly, with only a few hours notice, their final home game would be on Monday night against Chapel Hill.
So in the final Big 8 Conference matchup between the Tigers and the Panthers for at least the next four years (and probably longer), a Chapel Hill player had one of the greatest individual performances in the rivalry’s long history.
Junior guard Jake Chislom scored 41 points as the Tigers defeated Orange 75-62 in Hillsborough. Chislom scored 19 points in the first quarter, then added 17 in the fourth quarter.
Chapel Hill (7-4, 3-3 in the Big 8 Conference) won in its second trip to Hillsborough this season. Friday’s game, which was scheduled at Tiger Gymnasium, was postponed because of the threat of freezing rain.
In his final game in Hillsborough, Franklin scored 16 points. Kyle Stanley, Franklin’s teammate, finished with four. Orange (2-8, 1-6 in the Big 8), who never led in the game, was led by junior Jerec Thompson with 20 points.
The pace of the game was diametrically opposed to Orange’s chess match pace against East Chapel Hill on Thursday, when the two teams combined for 67 points in 36 minutes. At halftime on Monday, Chapel Hill led Orange 42-32, mainly behind Chislom.
Orange junior Joshua Jackson, in just his fourth varsity game, came off the bench to score eight points in the opening quarter as the Panthers kept it close early. Jerec Thompson added three 3-pointers in the opening quarter, but Chapel Hill center Carter Grubbs knocked down a driving baseline shot to put the Tigers ahed 26-20 at the end of the first quarter.
Chislom’s 3-pointer with 5:33 remaining in the third quarter gave the Tigers its largest lead at 49-34. After Franklin muscled in a drive to the basket, Chislom canned another 3-pointer, then Jermaine Burnette’s attempt at a dunk rimmed in to put the Tigers ahead 52-36.
Thompson canned a 3-pointer to end the third quarter, and another to start the fourth to whittle the deficit down to 68-60. But Matt Polsky hit a running one-hander, only for Thompson to drain another trey to reduce Chapel Hill’s lead to 60-53.
On the next possession, Jackson rebounded a Polskey miss and tried to score in transition but collided with Burnette. There was no call. On the other end, Franklin was called for a foul on a block attempt of a shot by Chislom.
After 12 years as Big 8 Conference rivals, Chapel Hill finished with a 15-13 record against Orange. During the Connor Crabtree years, Orange went 9-1 against the Tigers.
In another cruel irony, for the third year in a row, Orange will conclude its season at Southern Durham on Tuesday night. The Spartans are coached by Greg Motley, the winningest Orange coach in school history. Motley was Franklin’s first high school coach in 2017.
WOMEN: CHAPEL HILL 46, ORANGE 36
With a spot in the state playoffs on the line, the Chapel Hill women led wire-to-wire to defeat Orange 46-35 at Panther Gymnasium. The Tigers will be the #2 seed from the Big 8 Conference for the 3A State Playoffs.
For just the second time this season, Orange’s leading scorers, Aaliyah Harris and Erin Jordan-Cornell, were both held below double-figures. Jordan-Cornell scored eight points in the second quarter, but didn’t score in the second half. Harris was held to five points.
Chapel Hill’s three-guard lineup of Riley Corcoran, Laney Beale and Morgan Korfas gave the Lady Panthers headaches on both ends of the floor. Beale led the Tigers with 15 points, while Korfas had eleven. Corcoran finished with eight as Chapel Hill defeated Orange for the fourth straight time.
Chapel Hill raced out to a 18-8 lead. Orange’s Jada Reed hit an early 3-pointer, but Chapel Hill reeled off eight straight points behind a trey from Beale.
Orange can still qualify for one of the wildcard state playoffs spots in the Eastern Region. Orange travels to Southern Durham on Tuesday and will host Northern Durham on Friday night in its regular season finale.
MENS: CHAPEL HILL 75, ORANGE 62
CHAPEL HILL: Matt Polsky 8, Jake Chislom 41, Grant Ferris 2, Jermaine Burnette 8, Carter Grubs 8, Tyler Stillson 3, Ryan McKinnon 3, Franklin Johnson 2.
ORANGE: Jerec Thompson 20, Jason Franklin 16, J.J. Thompson 2, Kyle Stanley 4, Joshua Jackson 10, Hunter Birch 2, Ryan Moss 2, Darius Corbett 6.