Orange High School

by Tim Hackett

It was a pretty remarkable way for Joey McMullin to bookend his senior season. Sandwiched in between his first and his final games this season is a lot of tumult he surely wishes were different, but on this February Friday in Durham the Orange senior ended his final regular season the same way he started it back in late November – an outing of better than 35 points on about a half-dozen made three-pointers, lights-out shooting, nearly mistake-free play, and, to top it off, a Panther victory.

Nearly three months after McMullin kickstarted the Panther season with a career-best 38-point performance in Orange’s season opener, McMullin sealed the season with a 36-point effort, keyed by a career-high seven threes, adding in his tenth double-double for good measure, and leading Orange (10-14, 4-10 Big 8) to a 65-56 win over Northern Durham (4-20, 2-12) on Friday night at Poe Gymnatorium. With the win, Orange avoided finishing the year in last in the conference, dooming the Knights to the basement position via their tenth straight loss.

“Joey was super big inside and out tonight,” Orange head coach Derryl Britt said via text postgame. “He put the team on his back and carried us to victory!”

This game was as close as expected in the first half, following an ultra-tight 60-59 Northern win last month in Hillsborough (the Knights’ last win prior to this ten-game losing streak). The Knights scored the final six points of the first half to level the score at 25 apiece going into the break, and scored five of the first seven of the second half to take a 30-27 lead early.

They would not lead again. Orange scored the next 11 points, anchored by a pair of McMullin threes, to pull ahead, and outscored Northern 21-10 over the final six minutes of the frame. Jason Franklin was strong throughout the night for Orange, hitting consecutive threes of his own in that stretch to stake the Panthers to a 48-40 lead after three.

The two thinnest teams in the conference were being tested and going toe-to-toe – both schools sport only ten men on their rosters, and due to injuries and other factors both head coaches really only had eight guys to deploy. And Orange’s depth – or lack thereof – was tested even further when McMullin came up hobbling after he wrenched away a defensive rebound and ran almost literally into the bleachers before hitting the floor in pain. Some Northern trainers taped up his ankle on a table near the Northern bench, but his team soldiered on even with their best player sidelined. JJ Thompson hit a cutting layup. Kendrell Brooks converted a nice spinning floater. And Hunter Burch connected on two stickback layups, part of a career-best four-point day for a guy who had scored just ten points all season. But in the meantime Northern went on a run. They scored in all three phases – Greg Webb from in tight, Torrey Alston from midrange, and Derrien Hicklen from (extremely) deep – and started the fourth quarter on a 9-4 run to pull within 52-49.

Ultimately, McMullin valiantly returned to the game and promptly hit another three – his seventh – and a two shortly thereafter to put Orange back ahead 60-51. With time winding down, Northern tried to foul to preserve the clock, but the Knights had committed so few fouls over the course of the half that it took them forever to force Orange into the bonus. And once the Panthers got there they weren’t able to salt the Knights away, even with Franklin and McMullin, two of the most consistent foul shooters in the conference, tasked with the job. Hicklen pulled yet another deep three out of his bag – we’re talking a shot from around five feet outside the arc – to cut it to 62-56, but the Knights continued to foul McMullin, and he made good down the stretch. Northern forced up one final shot that went offline and – fittingly – into the hands one final time of Joey McMullin to wrap up a 65-56 Panther win.

“He was a beast on the boards,” Britt said of McMullin. “Great all-around game.”

The stakes were quite clear for this regular season finale: lose, and your team finishes in the basement of the Big 8. McMullin and the Panthers did more than enough to ensure that stigma wasn’t stuck onto them. There’s no doubt that 7^th place in this conference will feel loads better than 8^th. Their reward for this effort? Well, it really feels more like the exact opposite of an award – a trip to second-place Southern Durham in the first round of the Big 8 Conference Tournament next Tuesday. It’ll be a tall task against one of the best teams in 3A, but it will give the Panthers one more shot to extend what was once such a promising season. And it will give us one more chance to watch Joey McMullin create the magic he’s made almost all year.  

Like many East Carolina basketball fans, Orange women’s basketball coach B.J. Condron cheers for the Pirates and roots really hard for UNC.

Condron can relate to what Roy Williams has gone through this year, except the Orange Lady Panthers won’t have any one-and-dones.

But they’ve had plenty of injuries, just like the Tar Heels.

On Friday night, Orange defeated Northern Durham 45-36 in its senior night game at Panther Gymnasium. Sophomore guard Aaliyah Harris had 12 points to lead the Lady Panthers. It was the 14th time this year that Harris scored in double figures.

It was the seventh time this year that Orange played without two starters from their opening night lineup against Granville Central on December 3.

Orange’s only returning starter from last year, sophomore Mary Moss Wirt, hasn’t played since December 12 against Carrboro because of a torn ACL. Wirt, who missed her 18th game of the season on Friday, is also likely out for softball, where she was Orange’s starting 2nd baseman last year.

Six Orange players have missed games this season due to injury or various other activities, but Condron believes the fact they still finished .500 against a formidable schedule is why he’ll remember them.

“This is a special group,” Condron said. “The way they’ve never got too down after losses. They’ve always gone and fought, even when we’re down in games. They always get in there and fight. There haven’t been many practices that I’ve been completely unhappy with in terms of effort and attitude.”  

Orange (11-11, 5-9 in the Big 8 Conference) will face Chapel Hill in the opening round of the Big 8 Tournament on Tuesday. The winner of Orange-Chapel Hill will face either Southern Durham or Northern in the semifinals.

After Northern led 7-6 at the end of the first quarter, sophomore Samantha George hit two 3-pointers, while Jala Rainey banked in another trey to push Orange’s lead out to 21-10. Northern closed out the first half with 5-0 run, including a 3-pointer from Afin Rahman and a lay-up from Maya Hood, who led all scorers with 15 points.

George, who had a strong game against Southern Durham on Wednesday, got extra minutes with senior Grace Andrews out of the lineup.

“She handled herself with some poise (against Southern) despite being a tough situation,” Condron said. “And it transformed into this game.”

George ended the third quarter with a lay-up at the buzzer to increase Orange’s advantage to 35-27. The Lady Panthers held Northern without a point for the opening 5:17 of the fourth quarter. Freshman center Erin Jordan-Cornell scored two layups during an 8-0 Orange run, which ended with a 3-pointer from Harris.

Jordan-Cornell finished with ten points.

With Andrews out, the only senior in uniform for Orange on Friday was Brenna Mehl, who scored the game’s opening field goal. Mehl, who has a four-point-six GPA, will study biomedical engineering at UNC or N.C. State. She has also been accepted at Notre Dame. She was also a member of Orange’s 2018-19 team, which finished 2nd in the Big 8 behind Hillside and reached the 3A State Playoffs.

ORANGE 45, NORTHERN DURHAM 36

NORTHERN DURHAM: Maya Hood 15, Zaria Pittman 5, Afia Rahman 8, Nia Boney 1, Deniya El-Amin 7.

ORANGE: Aaliyah Harris 12, Jala Rainey 7, Erin Jordan-Cornell 10, Jarmil Wingate 4, Brenna Mehl 2, Samantha George 8, Kately Van Mater 2.

As usual, the Orange women’s basketball team was short handed on Friday night. This time, it was on Senior Night against Northern Durham. Despite some early offensive problems, the Lady Panthers defeated Northern 45-36 at Panther Gymnasium. Orange trailed 7-6 at the end of the first quarter, but Samantha George hit two key 3-pointers in the second quarter. George raced down the floor in the waning seconds of the third quarter to hit a lay-up at the buzzer. It was a special night for senior Brenna Mehl, who played her final game at Orange High. Mehl hit the first jump shot of the game. Brenna has a 4.6 grade point average and plans to study biomedical engineering at UNC or N.C. State. She has also been accepted at Notre Dame. The Orange women end the regular season 11-11, despite playing most of the year without sophomore Mary Moss Wirt, who was the only returning starter from last year. Orange will travel to Chapel Hill for the opening round of the Big 8 Conference Tournament on Tuesday night at 7.

The Orange men’s basketball team defeated Chapel Hill on Monday night. Joey McMullin and Jason Franklin led the Panthers to its ninth win of the season. Orange also completed a season sweep of the Tigers. Enjoy highlights of the game from Thompsonteamfilms.com.

Jason Franklin scored 21 points in Orange’s 75-70 victory over Chapel Hill on Monday night. It was the ninth time this year that Franklin scored 15 points or more in a game. He hit all three of his 3-point attempts. Franklin’s season-high of 26 points came against Cedar Ridge on January 31. A junior who is in his third year at the varsity level, Franklin will join Orange in its regular season finale on Friday night against Northern Durham at Poe Gymtorium. Orange will start play in the Big 8 Conference Tournament on Monday against an opponent to be determined. Franklin had his career-high of 36 points last year against Southern Durham.

If Derryl Britt was exhausted while coaching Orange on Monday night, he didn’t show it.

He had every reason to be. By the time Orange’s game against Chapel Hill tipped off in Hillsborough, it had been well over 36 hours since he last slept. Ordinarily, he would have hit the sack around midnight on Sunday, but there was a more pressing matter.

His daughter Nakia went into labor pains.

“Daddy, I don’t know if we’re going to make it through the night,” Nakia said to her dad.

With her contractions growing more intense by the minute, Derryl rushed her daughter to Duke Regional Hospital.

“Her water hadn’t broken,” Britt said. “I stayed in the room until she started pushing. That’s when it was time for me to make my exit.”

By the next morning, Britt became a grandfather.

Braylen Naseim Britt was born at 6:41 Monday morning. He was named after former Michigan Wolverines wide receiver Braylon Edwards, though his first name isn’t spelled exactly the same way.

Britt had just enough time to get home around lunch before preparing for that night’s game against Chapel Hill, which is where a great day got better.

Joey McMullin, in his penultimate game in Hillsborough, scored 24 points as Orange defeated Chapel Hill 75-70. The Panthers (9-13, 3-9 in the Big 8 Conference) completed a season sweep of the Tigers and beat them for the third straight time.

Junior Jason Franklin added 21 as the Panthers climbed out of last place in the Big 8 Conference.

Chapel Hill (9-13, 4-8) tied the game late after a 3-pointer from Seth Morton. Orange came back when Jerec Thompson scored on a stickback shot off a missed jumper. McMullin knocked down key free throws down the stretch after the Panthers didn’t allow another field goal in the final five Tiger possessions.

As usual, Orange’s confidence grew early as they sank 3-pointers. McMullin went 4-from-10 from behind the arc. Franklin was 3-for-3, while Jerec Thompson knocked down a pair of treys.

Orange also finished 16-of-17 from the foul line to sew up only its second win since Christmas.

“Tonight, we executed as a team,” Britt said. “We executed the game plan. We stayed together as a unit. Nobody outside of the game plan. And I loved it. I love it when we play that way. We looked like a unit.”

McMullin and Tucker Miller, the only two seniors on Orange’s team, finished the game on the floor as the Panthers ran out the clock. At midseason, it appears a return to the state playoffs would be a certainty for both of them. Orange was 7-1 going and ranked #11 in 3A basketball by MaxPreps going into the South Granville Holiday Tournament. They were fresh off a 50-point win over East Chapel Hill in its Big 8 opener.

After senior Machai Holt was dismissed from the team on January 3, the Panthers lost eight of its next nine and sunk to the bottom of the league.

On Wednesday night, McMullin and Miller will play their final game in Hillsborough against Southern Durham, led by their former coach Greg Motley.

“It’s going to be tough for me and my boy Tucker,” McMullin said. “We’ve know Motley since we were in elementary School. He coached us. It’s going to be tough for me. It’s going to be tough.”

After he cleaned up the gym on Monday night, a bleary-eyed Britt rushed back to Durham Regional. He not only was a winning coach as he journeyed back up I-85.

He was now a grandfather.

The Orange Panthers completed a season sweep of the Chapel Hill Tigers on Monday night. Orange won 75-70 behind 24 points from senior Joey McMullin, who knocked down some pressure free throws down the stretch. The Panthers shot 16-of-17 from the foul line for its ninth win of the season. McMullin has spent four seasons on Orange’s varsity team, where he was a member of the 2017 Big 8 regular season championship team. That squad reached the state quarterfinals after playoff wins over Triton, Southern Guilford and Gray’s Creek. He was also on the floor when the Panthers defeated Southern Durham after a Connor Crabtree running one-handed with three seconds remaining. On Wednesday night, McMullin will play his final game at Orange High when the Panthers host Southern Durham. Orange will start play in the Big 8 Conference Tournament next week.