Photo by Jacques Morin
In golf, you make the turn when you’re halfway done with your round.
The Orange men’s basketball team has made the turn in Central Conference play. For the past seven years, they’ve been playing catch up against Northwood or Southern Durham, depending on which league they were in.
Now, everyone in the Central Conference is chasing them.
Eastern Alamance arrived to Hillsborough on Tuesday night trying to pull the Panthers back down to the pack in league play, but the Orange sophomores wouldn’t allow it.
Coleman Cloer finished with 27 points while Kai Wade added 20 as Orange defeated the Eagles 75-67 in front of a near-capacity crowd at Panther Gymnasium. Orange (8-10, 6-0 in the Central Conference) leads Southern Alamance by one game for first place in the league.
The Panthers are looking for its first conference title since the 2016-2017 season.
While the Eagles were blown out by 38 points in its last trip to Hillsborough, they have been the surprise of the league this year under new coach Parrish Walker and roster additions like Jordan Matthews and Ja’vier Tinnin. Eastern Alamance went into last week tied with Orange for first place before losing to Southern Alamance in overtime.
On Tuesday, Wade directed the Orange offense like a conductor with a symphony. Then again, perhaps James Hetfield directing Metallica would be a better analogy because Wade was as subtle as a bomb. He relentlessly drove to the basket and forced fouls against the Eagles. The Panthers finished with 32 free throws and only eight turnovers, a season-low.
“Kai played great tonight,” said Orange coach Darryl Britt. “As always, he’s the floor general. He controls tempo and pace. Him and Cole are my extension on the floor. Everything Kai did, he did well.”
Matthews paced the Eagles (12-6, 4-2) with 21 points and eleven rebounds, his fourth double-double of the season.
The Eagles shot 9-of-11 from the field in the first quarter with Tinnen racking up seven assists. Amari Gibbs scooped a stickleback shot from under the basket at the quarter buzzer to put the Eagles ahead 21-19.
Orange led 34-33 at half-time. In the second half, Wade and Cloer constantly attacked the basket, which led to several Eastern Alamance starters getting in foul trouble.
With 5:25 remaining in the third quarter, Wade sank his patented pull-up jumper and scored over Tinnen, who was whistled for his third foul. Wade’s free throw tied the game at 40-40 while Tinnen, who finished with a season-high 12 assists, left the game. The Eagles offense didn’t flow the same without him.
The Panthers immediately went on a 12-0 run with all the points coming from Cloer and Wade, culminating with a steal by Xandrell Pennix. In transition, Wade handed off to Cloer, who sank a uncontested three-pointer, vaulting the Panthers ahead 49-40.
Matthews kept the Eagles in it during the fourth quarter, scoring 17 of his 21 points in the second half. Matthews opened the final frame with a lay-in to cut the Orange lead to 54-52, but Mason Robinson caught a gorgeous hook-around pass from senior Ryan Moss for a two-handed dunk. That launched a 8-2 Orange run that included Cloer scoring off a dunk following a steal.
With Orange leading 62-55, Robinson stuffed a drive by Matthews. Pennix captured the loose ball, drove the length of the floor and collided with the Eagles’ Anthony Weaver in mid-air. Pennix banked the shot in while Weaver was whistled for his fourth foul. Pennix completed the three-point play to increase the Orange advantage to 65-55.
Orange senior center Ryan Honeycutt finished with 15 points and eight rebounds.
The back nine of the Central Conference slate will be tricky for Orange. Of their final six conference games, five are on the road, starting with Friday’s trip to Western Alamance. The only home game will be against Southern Alamance, who lost a 5-point lead with :28 remaining in Graham against Orange on December 14. Orange escaped with a 72-68 win in overtime.
But Orange is at the turn now and they won’t be hard to find as the back nine begins.
They’re the ones on top.