The furthest east any 3A sports team can go for the 3A State Playoffs is to Morehead City to face West Carteret.
It’s longitude is 76.786, about 13 miles east of Havelock, which has a longitude of 76.893.
While it’s a long drive that the Orange men’s basketball team will make to return to the state basketball playoffs on Tuesday night, it’s one they’re still willing to take.
On Saturday night, the North Carolina High School Athletic Association released its field of 64 for the 3A State Men’s Basketball playoffs. The Panthers received a #19 seed and will face #14 West Carteret in the opening round on Tuesday night. The winner will face either Northern Nash or Croatan in the second round.
Orange (17-9) will make its first playoff appearance since 2017, when they reached the state quarterfinals. The Panthers’ last postseason win came against Trition on February 25, 2017, a night of mixed blessings. Orange roared out to a 28-2 lead behind a superhuman effort from senior point forward Connor Crabtree. With Orange leading 40-17, Crabtree tore a ligament in his right ankle late in the first quarter after he came down wrong on a rebound. It ended his high school career like a star that burned brightest before it disappeared. Orange lost to Northern Guilford three days later.
West Carteret (17-7) finished 2nd in the Costal Conference behind White Oak. In 2022, the Patriots reached the 3A Eastern Regional championship game, beating Northwood in the state quarterfinals in Morehead City. Fayetteville 71st edged the Patriots 74-70 to advance to the state championship game.
The Patriots lost two starters from last year’s team, but still returned Dylan McBride and Worth Stack to a team that has a wealth of experience. West Carteret has six players who have entered 20 games this Eason. Overall, they have ten seniors on the roster.
That serves as the polar opposite of an Orange team that has been revitalized by youth. Freshman Coleman Cloer has had twelve 20-point games and is already at 518 points, which may very well be a school record for a freshman. Kai Wade, a freshman point guard, has started in 25 of Orange’s 26 games. Junior center Ryan Honeycutt is in his first season as a varsity player, while freshman Mason Robinson is also a regular contributor for a Panther team that just ended a string of five consecutive losing seasons.
The Panthers were eliminated in the semifinals of the Central Carolina Conference Tournament last Wednesday by Person in Roxboro. West Carteret was eliminated in the Coastal Conference semifinals by Swansboro, who eventually defeated White Oak to win the conference tournament.
Swansboro and West Carteret tied for 2nd in the Coastal Conference with identical 7-3 marks.
Overall, four teams from the CCC made the state playoffs, most of whom got tough draws based on various conference tournament championship games across the region jumbling up the RPI rankings at the last minute. Only Northwood, who defeated Person to win the CCC Tournament, will get a home game in the opening round. The Chargers, seeded #1, will host West Johnston on Tuesday.
Person, who appeared set to host a home game in the opening round for weeks, fell victim to an upset in the Big Carolina Conference Tournament Championship. Basically, South Central stole the Rockets’ home game when they surprised Jacksonville on Friday night. Instead, the Rockets will travel to Fayetteville to face Westover.
Walter Williams was the fourth CCC team to make the playoffs. The Bulldogs will travel to Rocky Mount, who received the #12 seed out of the Big East Conference.
Eastern Alamance was the last team out of the field of 64.
On Friday night, Cloer was named to the Central Carolina Conference All-Tournament team in Pittsboro. He was joined by Northwood’s Drake Powell, Max Frazier and Jake Leighton, Person’s Julian Crawley and Lance Clarke.