Photo by Jacques Morin
Orange’s first home game after Christmas had an extra buzz in the air on Friday night.
The student section was more crowded. So was the entire home grandstand. And there were graduates still hanging out because college winter break is still active.
Word of mouth travels fast across high school circles. Locally, South Granville guard Brandon Greenup has gained a reputation very quickly.
Greenup is on pace to become the highest scoring freshman in North Carolina men’s basketball history. He arrived to Hillsborough averaging 27.3 points per game, 10th highest in North Carolina. He was coming off a 31 point game in a loss to Wakefield on Wednesday.
Orange coach Derryl Britt lives in Granville County and has heard the aura about Greenup, as well. It led to him delivering an intriguing challenge to his team.
A combination of relentless double-teaming, improved Orange defense and foul trouble led to Greenup being held to a career-low 12 points. It wasn’t until the final two minutes of regulation, when the Panthers had ensured the result, that Greenup hit a trivial 3-pointer that put him into double-figures.
A taller, rangier Orange team withstood an early Viking run and picked up 22 points from Hector Garrido to defeat South Granville 67-48. Jalen Crayton added 18 points as Orange remained tied with Seaforth for first place in the Big 7 Conference with a 3-0 league mark. The Panthers have won back-to-back games for the first time this season and are now 4-10 overall.
It was Orange’s first win over South Granville since November 28, 2007, when the Panthers defeated the Vikings 72-71 in Hillsborough.
Greenup and Traveon Hayes each had 12 points for the Vikings (4-7, 1-2).
“(Containing Greenup) was our absolute game plan,” Britt said. “We knew how we wanted to defend him. The question was who could we get to do that? The players that first come to mind to carry out that test, Hector and J.T. Gray, are too important on offense to get fatigued on defense. So I had to do some soul searching and I figured that Emerson Laskey has some athleticism and size. Greenup is very savvy to be a freshman.”
Greenup’s previous season-low came against Eastern Alamance, when he scored 20. He scored just two points in the first half and had to wait until the opening minutes of the fourth quarter for his initial field goal.
Early on, the Vikings were able to dictate the pace of play with a breakneck pace. Ashton Hailey-Alston and Hayes each had two field goals during a 10-2 run to open the game.
Gray, a senior, scored seven points in the first quarter as the Panthers outscored the Vikings 13-3 in the final four minutes of the first quarter. Orange wouldn’t trail again.
The Vikings, coached by former Orange High linebacker Mike McDaniel, shot 31% from the field.
Garrido scored six points in the second quarter. Crayton scored off a stickback basket to put Orange ahead 25-16. Sophomore Carson James came off the bench to score seven points in the second quarter. Meanwhile, Greenup picked up his third foul off a double foul call, along with Orange’s Weston Cheek.
Greenup scored seven points, mostly from the foul line, in the third quarter. But Orange opened with a 3-pointer from Gray and built its lead to 16 points. The Vikings were able to pair that down to six points off a lay-in from David Hicks, who finished with nine points.
Crayton delivered big baskets down the stretch, scoring eight points in the fourth quarter. Garrido, who also scored 22 points against Carrboro last Tuesday, sank some clutch free throws to earn the Panthers second home win of the season.
The Panthers will travel to Oxford to face Webb on Friday night.
