After eleven days off created by last week’s snowstorm, Orange Boys Basketball Coach Greg Motley wanted to see an effort from his team that would solidify its standing in the state playoffs.
Instead, Orange’s future is more up in the air than ever.
Hillside defeated Orange 57-43 on Tuesday night at Jim King Gymnasium, dropping the Panthers to 8-9, 3-4 in the Big 8. Trey Crews led a balanced Hillside attack with eleven points, while Drake Thompson added ten.
Orange was only 8-24 from the foul line and shot 35% from the field. Point guard Mitch Portman led the Panthers with 12 points, while Ryan Sellers came off the bench for ten points.
Hillside has now passed Orange in the Big 8 standings with a 3-3 league mark, 7-7 overall.
At a time when the Panthers are struggling on offense, they lost starting sophomore guard Mechai Holt in the 2nd quarter with an injured left foot. Holt was injured early in the first quarter, then returned later in the first half after Portman was kneed in the head on a shot fake by Crews, who tumbled over him. Holt didn’t return after halftime.
“When you’re down, sometimes you just keeping going that way,” said Motley. “Losing Mekai hurts because he’s a ball handler that does some things for us. He puts pressure on the floor for us.”
The two teams traded the lead six times in a low-scoring first quarter, but Hillside bridged a 13-0 run between the opening quarters to control the rest of the game. Damon Sanders scored off a steal to give the Hornets an 8-7 lead, and Crews responded off a Sanders steal moments later with a 3-pointer.
Hillside forced 13 steals and pressed Orange into 18 turnovers. Trailing 28-17 at the half, Orange never got within single digits in the second half as the absence of Holt took away any spark in the Panther offense.
With makeup games coming against Northern Durham and East Chapel Hill, Orange will play seven games over the next 14 days to finish the regular season, followed by the Big 8 Tournament.
Next up is a road game at Chapel Hill.
“It’s been a rough couple of weeks,” said Motley. “If you watch us play, we play pretty good defense. It’s not like teams are scoring a million points against us. We just can’t score the ball. It’s something that we’ve struggled with all year.”
In the opening game of the doubleheader, Hillside easily put away the Orange girls team to complete a season sweep. The Lady Panthers fall to 5-12, 1-6 in the Big 8.
HILLSIDE 57, ORANGE 43
H: 12 16 11 18-57
O: 7 8 12 16-43
HILLSIDE: Traylen Warren 9, Xavier Young 3, Rod Bailey 6, Brain Bullock 2, Drake Thompson 10, Damon Sanders 4, Trey Crews 11, Treyvion Graham 3, Ja’Lyn McIntosh 3, Deontrae Brown 6.
ORANGE: Mitch Portman 12, Mechai Holt 3, Kendall Whitted 4, Joey McMullin 5, Zyon Pettiford 4, Morgan Paschall 2, Ryan Sellers 10, Marvante Beasley 3.