From the time he first stepped on the floor in an Orange uniform in the Orange Heat summer tournament in 2022, it was clear that Coleman Cloer had the potential to be the most coveted high school basketball player ever from Hillsborough.
Combining the size and driving ability of 2017 graduate Connor Crabtree, who would go on to play at Tulane and Richmond, with the shooting range of Jerec Thompson, Cloer was a star the moment he started playing under Orange coach Derryl Britt.
Over the weekend during a celebration with family and friends, Cloer officially declared to play at N.C. State under new Wolfpack head coach Will Wade. Cloer had attracted numerous college offers since he started playing as a freshman at Orange. He chose the Wolfpack over North Carolina, Connecticut, Alabama, and Florida. Former N.C. State coach Kevin Keatts offered a scholarship to Cloer during his freshman year and saw him play in person during the 2023 John Wall Invitational at Broughton High in Raleigh.
Cloer, whose brothers Graham and Garrett played football at Orange, spent two seasons with the Panthers under Britt. As a sophomore, he became the fastest player in school history to reach 1,000 points after he hit a 3-pointer against Currituck County in the opening round of the 3A State Playoffs on February 27, 2024. Orange would win that game 85-62, its first playoff win in seven years.
It was also Cloer’s final game in Hillsborough. Three days later, Northern Nash defeated Orange in Rocky Mount behind a key performance from freshman C.J. Rosser, who played for the United States’ U-16 team in the FIBA World Cup over the summer.
Cloer became synonymous with highlight reel dunks and a deft shooting touch that made Orange games the hottest attraction it had been since 2014, when a Panther team coached by Greg Motley faced Eastern Alamance during the third round of the state playoffs in front of a turn away crowd in Hillsborough.
In his sophomore season, Cloer led Orange to its first regular season championship since 2017. It was a difficult start to the year because Cloer suffered an ankle injury in practice just days before the season-opener against Hillside. After missing the opening nine games of the season, Cloer returned for a wild comeback win over Southern Alamance in Graham where the Panthers erased a 5-point deficit in the final 28 seconds of regulation to beat the Patriots 72-69.
The Panthers tore through the Central Conference with a 11-1 record. Among the highlights were Cloer scoring 40 points in the home game against Southern Alamance in front of members of the Panthers’ 1969 State Championship team. He scored 27 points in Orange’s first win over Person in nine years in Hillsborough.
In February 2024, Cloer was named the Most Valuable Player of the Central Conference Tournament, the Panthers’ first postseason tournament championship since 2016. Cloer scored 36 points in the championship game, an 86-69 win over Eastern Alamance at Rockets Gymnasium in Roxboro. In the semifinal win against Person, Cloer scored 22.
In his freshman season, Cloer scored 17 points in his first game, a 55-50 win over East Chapel Hill in Hillsborough. He scored in double-figures in 26 of 27 games in his first season at Orange. He averaged 20.1 points and 7.5 rebounds per game. He scored 35 against Person in Roxboro on January 6, 2023. Against Walter Williams on December 16, 2022, he scored 27 points in a win in Burlington.
After his sophomore season at Orange, Cloer transferred to Caldwell Academy in Greensboro. He led the Eagles to the 2025 North Carolina Independent Schools Athletic Association 2A State Championship, beating the Burlington School 73-51.
He is currently enrolled at the IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida. A four-star prospect, Cloer will be a part of Wade’s attempted resurrection of N.C. State basketball, which has largely played third fiddle behind Duke and North Carolina for the better part of 35 years for Triangle hoops supremacy.
