Orange Men’s Basketball

It wasn’t Hoosiers. It wasn’t Glory Road.

Heck, it wasn’t even The Sixth Man.

In the end, what it was was an Orange victory on a night of the strange.

Jason Franklin’s lay-in with 2:59 remaining in overtime lifted the Panthers to a 35-32 over East Chapel Hill on Thursday night at Panther Gymnasium in Hillsborough.

“Jason knows that’s his time,” said Orange coach Derryl Britt. “He’s the guy who should have the ball at that time. We talked about having the best players close games out. We’ve had close games were we’ve had to learn how to win. That’s coach speak, but it’s the truth.”

With Orange clinging to a 33-32 lead, the Panthers’ J.J. Thompson intercepted an East pass and was fouled. Thompson drained the subsequent foul shots, his only points of the game.

East Chapel Hill (8-3, 7-0), which has already clinched the Big 8 regular season championship, was led by Will Tyndall’s 15 points.

Franklin finished with 13 points for Orange (2-8, 1-6).

Going into the fourth quarter, the Panthers were lethargic offensively, but they weren’t alone. East led 21-17 going into the fourth quarter. Orange, which relies on the outside shot for most of its offense, sank only two three-pointers in the first three quarters.

East Chapel Hill led 29-22 with 3:53 after a 3-point play by Tyndall and a steal and score from Isaiah Roberson. That was East’s final field goal of the game.

The Panthers cold offense finally found its rhythm when Thompson rattled in a 3-pointer with 3:23 remaining in regulation. On East’s next possession, Kyle Stanley tied up Tyndall for a held-ball, which sent the ball back to Orange. Thompson nailed another 3-pointer to reduce East’s lead to 29-28.

After East was called for traveling, Orange missed on its next possession. Franklin made a huge steal to give the Panthers’ the ball back, then fired a 3-pointer that was a knuckleball that took a dead bounce of the heel of the rim and flatly fell through the net to put Orange ahead 31-29. It was the Panthers’ first lead since it was 2-1.

Charles Stanley sank two free throws to even the game at 31. Orange couldn’t get a shot off on its final possession, which led to a 4-minute overtime.

There was a moment of comedy early in the extra session. After Franklin’s opening field goal, Orange forced a turnover on East’s first possession. Britt asked his scorekeeper “How many timeouts do I have left?” The official trailing the play heard “time out” and immediately charged the timeout to Orange—its final timeout.

EAST CHAPEL HILL WOMEN 39, ORANGE 38

The East Chapel Hill women held off Orange 39-38, the third straight time the Wildcats won in Hillsborough.

Last Wednesday, when the Lady Panthers held off East by five points in Wildcats Gymnasium, the Wildcats had only five players in uniform. On Thursday, they had seven, but freshman center Laynie Smith made the biggest different.

Smith scored 16 points, including 14 in the second half. She knocked down two 3-pointers in the third quarter to put East ahead to stay.

In a bizarre final minute, Orange’s Aaliyah Harris knocked down two 3-pointers to narrow the deficit to 39-38. Orange fouled Abby Stone with 2.2 seconds remaining. On the front end of a 1-and-1, Stone took too long at the foul line and was called for a 10-second violation.

Then things got really weird.

With Orange trailing 39-38, Harris was set to inbounds when East’s Shariah Wells knocked down Orange’s Jarmil Wingate. Wells was whistled for a foul. Orange coach B.J. Condron thought Wingate would go to the foul line since it was East’s eighth team foul. Instead, Orange was ordered to take the ball out of bounds, which led to Harris missing a desperation heave at the buzzer from midcoast.

Afterwards, the officials admitted (under light questioning from a curious Condron) that they erroneously thought that East was in possession of the ball when Wingate was fouled, when it was really Orange inbounding the ball.

Harris scored 14 to lead Orange, who will face Chapel Hill at Smith Middle School on Friday night. Erin Jordan-Cornell had 12 for the Lady Panthers.

ORANGE 35, EAST CHAPEL HILL 32 OT

EAST CHAPEL HILL: Dillon McCafferty 3, Will Tyndall 15, Isaiah Roberson 3, Jerrod Meltzer 5, Nathaniel Stone 1, Charles Stanley 4, Jabari Best 1.

ORANGE: Jerec Thompson 14, Jason Franklin 13, J.J. Thompson 2, Kyle Stanley 2, Devin Corbett 2.

WOMEN

EAST CHAPEL HILL 39, ORANGE 38

EAST CHAPEL HILL: Riley Ellis 10, Laynie Smith 18, Abby Stone 9, Gabby Sielken 2.

ORANGE: Aaliyah Harris 14, Samantha George 4, Erin Jordan-Cornell 13, Jarmil Wingate 2, Katelyn Van Mater 2, Jada Reed 3.

For the third year in a row, the Orange men’s basketball team defeated East Chapel Hill in Hillsborough. This time, East arrived to Panther Gymnasium with the Big 8 Championship already in the bag. But the Panthers knocked down shots down the stretch to pull out a 35-32 victory in overtime. Jason Franklin scored Orange’s only field goal in the extra session and finished with 13 points. J.J. Thompson made a critical steal in the final minute and was fouled in transition, leading to the final two points of the game. Kyle Stanley, the senior center, had several important plays in the post for Orange late as the Panthers secured its second win of the season. On Friday, Orange is scheduled to travel to Chapel Hill.

There’s a saying in the Wild West that there isn’t a horse that can’t be rode and there never was a rider that can’t be thrown.

In high school sports, there never has been a flea that can’t be killed with a sledgehammer.

Orange guard Jason Franklin, playing on his senior night, had just stolen the ball from Northwood’s Drake Powell and was fouled with 1:25 remaining in regulation. With Northwood leading 45-43, Franklin stepped to the foul line with a 1-and-1 with a chance to tie the game.

It was at this moment on Tuesday night that the officials called a technical foul against Orange’s bench because a coach’s mask had fallen below his nose. The coach, according to one official, had been warned twice during the game.

Franklin missed the front end of the 1-and-1 and Orange’s fortunes nosedived. Northwood (8-2, 5-2 in the Big 8 Conference) finished the game with eight straight points to defeat the Panthers 52-43. It was the Chargers’ sixth straight victory over the Panthers.

Afterwards, a dejected Orange Coach Derryl Britt squatted in front of his bench long after the limited gathering of parents and students had departed and murmured “It hurts, man.”

Coming off a win at Vance County that ended a nine-game losing streak, Orange played with fire against a taller and faster opponent. Franklin finished with 15 points, tied for team-high honors with junior guard Jerec Thompson.

Jarin Stevenson led Northwood with 17 points, but it was Federico Whitaker whose presence was felt the most for the Chargers in the second half. Whitaker hit a trio of 3-pointers in the third quarters and came away with 16 points, 13 after halftime.

Northwood never trailed in the second half, but its largest lead with only nine. With 5:50 remaining in the fourth quarter, Northwood led 51-44, Franklin soared above Troy Arnold on an inbounds pass and found J.J. Thompson for a 3-pointer.

After Stevenson scored on a stickleback of a miss by Arnold to increase the Chargers’ lead to 53-47, J.J. Thompson drilled another 3-pointer with 4:05 left. J.J. Thompson finished with eleven points, one short of his season-high.

Northwood center Tucker Morgan got a jump hook to fall to push the Chargers’ lead to 55-50. Jerec Thompson matched that with another 3-pointer, his third of the fourth quarter, to pull Orange within 3.

Franklin carried the first half for Orange on offense, scoring 12 points. Stevenson had 13 in the first half.

Orange (1-8, 1-7) hosts East Chapel Hill, which has already clinched the Big 8 Championship, on Thursday in Hillsborough.

WOMEN’S GAME: NORTHWOOD 41, ORANGE 23

The Northwood women’s basketball team has already captured its second straight Big 8 Championship. On Tuesday night, they showed why they’re a 3A State Championship contender.

Using its depth and surplus of sizable forwards and centers, the Chargers defeated Orange 41-23. It was a season-low in total points for Orange, which had a five-game winning streak snapped.

6-0 sophomore center Ta’Keyah Bland finished with 14 points for the Chargers, who are ranked #3 in the latest 3A MaxPreps rankings. Skylar Adams added 12 for the Chargers, who have won 18 consecutive games against Big 8 Conference opponents.

Orange center Erin Jordan-Cornell led the Lady Panthers with eight. Point guard Aaliyah Harris, who had been in double figures in five straight games, was held to seven.

Orange led for much of the first quarter, but the Chargers used a 12-0 run bridging the first and second quarters to go ahead 18-8. Consecutive field goals by Jordan-Cornell at the end of the first half reduced Orange’s deficit to 18-12 at the half.

Orange could only muster two field goals in the third quarter.

The Lady Panthers will host East Chapel Hill on Thursday night.

Between games of the doubleheader, Orange held a ceremony for the only senior on the women’s team, Jala Rainey, who scored the final basket of the game.

MEN: NORTHWOOD 52, ORANGE 43

NORTHWOOD: Colby Burleson 4, Frederico Whitaker 16, Drake Powell 2, Jarin Stevenson 17, Tucker Morgan 6, Troy Arnold 5, Kenan Parrish 2.

ORANGE: Jerec Thompson 15, J.J. Thompson 11, Hunter Birch 2, Jason Franklin 15.

WOMEN: NORTHWOOD 41, ORANGE 23

NORTHWOOD: Rae McClarty 2, Ta’Keyah Bland 14, Skylar Adams 12, Myla Marve 6, Jillian McNaught 2, McKenna Snively 5.

ORANGE: Aaliyah Harris 7, Samantha George 4, Erin Jordan-Cornell 8, Jarmil Wingate 2, Jala Rainey 2.

Through the grind of three games in three days, the theme for the Orange men’s basketball team has been to start hot, fade in the third quarter and fall short of the finish line with victory in sight.

It’s what led to an 0-7 start.

The pattern was broken on Saturday.

Jerec Thompson scored 16 points in the opening quarter, 23 in the first half and wound up with a career-high 32 as the Panthers (1-7, 1-6) defeated Vance County 65-62 on Saturday inside Viper Gymnasium.

The victory was Orange’s first in 357 days and ended an eight-game losing streak. Senior Jason Franklin added 23 points, including 16 in the second half.

“It feels good to get a win after a bad start,” Thompson said. “It feels really good right now. When you’re feeling it like that early, it feels like everything you shoot is going in.”

On Thursday against Southern Durham, Orange built a 15-point lead, led by 12 at the half but ended up losing 64-52. On Friday, the Panthers led Cedar Ridge 24-12 in the first half, but lost the lead by halftime and lost the game, as well, 51-48.

“It’s endurance, but it’s more mental,” Thompson said. “We have younger guys and we just need to learn how to win.”

“We knew coming into this game that we’re not an 0-7 team,” Franklin said. “We know we’re better than our record. This afternoon was us figuring out how to win.”

Thompson opened by scoring 16 of Orange’s first 18 points, including five three-pointers, as the Panther roared out to an 18-8 lead. The Panthers led wire-to-wire, despite the Vipers predictably clawing back to within one point in the second half.

If there was any time for Orange to run out of gas, it was on Saturday. It was the Panthers’ third game in three days. Sophomore Thomas Loch was called up from the junior varsity team just to have nine players in uniform.

Thompson and Franklin played the entire 32 minutes, while junior point guard J.J. Thompson played 31. Vance County (1-1), which has been in quarantine up until this week, had 14 players on the roster in only its second game.

Thompson and Franklin scored on transition lay-ups to open the fourth quarter and increase Orange’s lead to 53-41 with 5:12 remaining. Vance County’s Tra’On Lyons started a Viper rally with a three-pointer. After Tizaerion Holden blocked a shot by Ryan Moss, Lyons scored on a lay-in.

After J.J. Thompson sank two free throws to increase Orange’s lead to 55-46, Vance’s Saimir Betts’ drilled a 3-pointer. Kevon Burton rebounded a Thompson miss for a lay-in, then Lyons’ sank a 3-pointer to cut the Orange lead to 55-54 with 2:10 remaining.

On the next Orange possession, Franklin split two free throws after getting fouled on a drive to the lane. With Orange leading 56-54, Betts’ 3-point attempt was blocked by Franklin. After Kyle Stanley got the rebound for Orange, Franklin dished the ball to Jerec Thompson, who drilled a 19-footer with 48 seconds remaining.

“It was probably a shot I shouldn’t have taken,” Thompson said.

Thompson’s hot start was the polar opposite from Orange’s last trip to Henderson in January 2020. On that night, Vance County roared out to a 28-3 lead against a shellshocked Orange team that had just learned hours earlier that senior Machai Holt had been dismissed from the team.

Orange will host Northwood on Tuesday night for senior night. Because of the unique nature of this season, this was Orange’s final Big 8 Conference game. Only the first meetings against Big 8 teams count in the conference standings. The remaining games on Orange’s schedule will be considered non conference matchups.

Before tipoff, a moment of silence was held to honor legendary Vance County Coach Wilson Baskett, who passed away on January 9. Baskett played at the original Vance High School, then became head coach of the Vikings. When Vance High split into two schools in 1990, he remained head coach at Northern Vance High School. He was the first head coach at Vance County when the Vance School Board consolidated the two high schools in 2018. Baskett won 402 career games and four conference championships.

ORANGE 65, VANCE COUNTY 62

ORANGE: J.J. Thompson 4, Jason Franklin 23, Jerec Thompson 32, Darius Corbett 3, Hunter Birch 3.

VANCE COUNTY: Kevon Burton 3, Tra’On Lyons 22, Adrian Durham 6, Jaylen Fields 5, Zy’Shawn Appling 4, Saimir Betts 16, Johntavious Jiggetts 2, Tizaerion Holden 2, Traejon Durham 2

Orange has started games hot this year. Jerec Thompson started the Vance County game nuclear. Thompson scored 16 points in the first quarter in the Panthers’ 65-62 victory over Vance County in Henderson on Saturday. He finished with 32 in the Panthers’ first victory of the season. On Friday, Thompson scored 23 points, 14 in the first half, against Cedar Ridge. Thompson had 16 of Orange’s 18 points in the first quarter against the Vipers. His hot start pushed Orange to an early 15-point lead and the Panthers never trailed against the Vipers. It was a quality win for the Panthers in what will likely be their final game in Henderson for a long, long time. Vance County will leave the Big 8 Conference in August.