Even on a night when Orange’s high octane offense was slow to reach full efficiency, the Panthers still captured a wire-to-wire win on the road.
The Panthers are only three wins away from the Central Conference championship after beating Walter Williams 64-51 in Burlington on Tuesday night. Sophomore Coleman Cloer led Orange (10-10, 8-0 in the Central Conference) with 23 points, while sophomore point guard Kai Wade added 18 points as the Panthers defeated the Bulldogs for the fourth straight time.
Cloer now has three straight 20-point games. He has scored 20 or more points in six of the last seven contests, including a season-high 30 points against Western Alamance on January 3.
Williams (11-7, 3-5) was led by center Milton Turner with 17 points.
In eight conference games thus far, Orange hasn’t trailed in five of them. Against the Bulldogs, Xandrell Pennix, Cloer and Wade each hit three-pointers to open the game as Orange opened with a 9-2 lead. Turner scored six of the Bulldogs eight points in the opening quarter, but the Panthers led 17-8 at the end of the first stanza.
Williams outscored the Panthers 18-11 in the second quarter. Center Sam Rhodes scored three field goals in the second frame while Charlie Smith and Turner each knocked down three-pointers to cut the Panther lead to 31-26 at halftime.
The Bulldogs had its chances to make it a one-possession game in the third quarter after Rhodes and Amarion Richmond scored early. Orange sophomore forward Mason Robinson drained a crucial jump shot from the baseline while getting fouled by Rhodes to push the Panther lead to 46-35. Eventually, the Panthers stretched its advantage back to 57-41 behind drives from Wade, who had 12 points in the second half.
Pennix added eleven points for the Panthers, who are 7-0 since the start of 2024. Orange now leads Eastern Alamance by two games for first place in the Central Conference with four games remaining. The Panthers will travel to Cedar Ridge, its third straight road game, on Friday night.
SOUTHERN ALAMANCE 52, CEDAR RIDGE 44: In its fight to stay in the Central Conference championship race, the Patriots broke open a halftime tie to top the Red Wolves inside Cedar Ridge Gymnasium on Tuesday night.
Southern Alamance shot 8-of-11 from the field in the 3rd quarter, starting the second half on a 9-0 run to stay ahead for good. The Patriots’ Evan Jacobson started with a 3-pointer off an assist from Tyler Moore on the first possession of the third quarter. Josiah Aiken paced Southern Alamance with 16 points while Jordan Moore had eleven points and seven rebounds.
The Patriots improved to 12-8 overall, 5-3 in the Central Conference.
Cedar Ridge senior Landon Dalehite paced the Red Wolves with 15 points. Junior Braden Wilbourn had 14 points and seven rebounds. The Red Wolves (3-17, 1-7) got eleven rebounds from senior Harrison Perel.
Southern Alamance built a 15-8 lead after a jumper by Moore early in the second quarter. Cedar Ridge reeled off eight straight points to take a 16-15 lead starting with two free throws by Dalehite and consecutive jumpers by freshman Jordan Jacobson. Perel set up a lay-in by Wilbourn to put the Red Wolves ahead 16-15. The two teams traded the lead in the final minutes of the first half. Dalehite hit two more free throws to give the Red Wolves a 20-18 lead, but Aiken scored on a stickback basket to tie the game 22-22 at halftime.
Aiken capped Southern Alamance’s 8-0 run to open the second half with another basket off an offensive rebound. Dalehite responded with a 3-pointer, then assisted on a lay-in by Wilbourn to cut the Patriots’ lead to 33-30. That was as close as the Red Wolves would get as the Patriots went on a 10-0 run. Southern Alamance’s Chris Epps came off the bench to score five straight points, including a corner three-pointer. Moore scored off a strip and steal to end the third quarter with the Patriots in control at 40-30.