Crayton racks up double-double in Orange basketball’s rout of Southern Alamance, will host Eastern Alamance for share of league title on Friday
Senior night was going to be emotional enough for Orange men’s basketball.
There will be eight seniors honored, including starters Xandrell Pennix, Freddy Sneed and Michael Clark, all of whom have been varsity players since they were freshmen.
Now, there will be more on the line. A share of the Central Conference regular season championship.
On Friday, Orange will host Eastern Alamance in Hillsborough. If Orange wins, they will finish 10-2 and claim at least a portion of the league title for the second straight year.
It will be a rematch of the Central Conference opener back on December 13 in Mebane, where the Eagles surprised the Panthers with a 1-3-1 zone in the second half. Orange shot just 33% from the field in a 66-60 loss. The Eagles ended a six-game losing streak to the Panthers behind freshman Mason Murphy scoring 24 points. Senior guard Ja’vier Tinnin finished with 15 points.
By the time Friday rolls around, it will have been nearly two months to the day after their initial meeting and both teams have added new dimensions. Orange center Jalen Crayton, who went scoreless in Mebane, has become more assertive offensively and have only improved with his finishing ability and free throw shooting.
Eastern Alamance has sophomore Hunter Eichmann, whose father Sean played at Orange in the mid-1990s and whose grandfather was a trigonometry and geometry teacher at Orange, as well as being the biggest Philadelphia Flyers fan in school history. Eichman played sparingly against Orange in the previous meeting, but has become a constant contributor for the Eagles. He is averaging 12 points per game and scored 22 points in a win at Person on January 14.
Following a difficult loss to Person on February 4, Orange bounced back to rout Southern Alamance 84-47 on Friday night in Hillsborough. It was Orange’s fifth wire-to-wire win in its last six games.
Crayton scored a career-high 15 points and grabbed 13 rebounds, his first career double-double. Junior guard Kai Wade paced all scorers with 19 points and eight rebounds.
With the win, Orange improved to 17-6, officially surpassing its win total from last year when they finished 16-12.
Kamaal Smith added a career-high 13 points as Orange improved to 9-2 in league play. Orange is tied with Eastern Alamance and Person for first place in the loss column in the Central Conference.
Orange’s fullcourt pressure hampered the Patriots throughout the night. The Panthers forced 22 steals and created 31 turnovers in all. They limited Southern Alamance (4-18, 1-9) to 27% shooting from the field.
Orange started the game on a 9-0 run. Pennix, who finished with six points to put his career total at 972 points, swished a 3-pointer to force a Southern Alamance timeout. Freddy Sneed forced consecutive steals, both of which led to field goals. Sneed found Crayton for a lay-in to put the Panthers ahead 13-2. Smith ended the first quarter with a 3-pointer off a feed from Sneed.
Jasiah Allen led Southern Alamance with 13 points.
Orange had a three-game winning streak come to an end against Person on February 4. The Rockets, who blew a 19-point lead to Orange in a 67-65 Panther win in Roxboro on January 9, got 18 points from senior Lance Clarke.
Orange led the majority of the game against Person in Hillsborough, building a 31-22 advantage with 5:53 remaining in the third quarter after Sneed scored on a lay-in. Clarke, who was held to three points in the first half, erupted for eleven points in the third quarter. Clarke hit back-to-back three-pointers to put the Rockets ahead 37-36 with 1:39 remaining in the third quarter. It was Person’s first lead since it was 8-7 late in the first quarter.
Person’s Tae Winstead scored on a stickback bucket with 1:51 remaining in the game. Clarke drained two free throws with nine seconds remaining to give Person the game-winning points.