Joey McMullin deserved better.

It was an achievement that very few Orange players reach: scoring 1,000 points in a career. To do it, you usually have to start playing as a freshman, stay healthy and be successful enough to have a string of postseason games. It hasn’t happened since Connor Crabtree in 2017, when McMullin started as a freshman and the Panthers reached the 3A state quarterfinals.

McMullin entered Thursday’s game against Northern Durham needing only eleven points to reach 1,000, but he wanted more than that.

He wanted to beat Northern Durham and bring an end, as brief as it may be, to the tsunami of bad fortune that has overtaken Orange basketball since Christmas ended.

For much of the night, it felt like McMullin would get his wish and his milestone. McMullin rebounded a missed shot by Hunter Birch and scored on a stickback late in the third quarter for his 1,000th point.

That put Orange ahead by eleven in a game where they had never trailed. In what has become a pattern, the Panthers faltered down the stretch.

Anthony Freeman hit two free throws with :4.1 seconds remaining as the Knights rallied to defeat Orange 60-59. Orange’s Jason Franklin split a pair of foul shots to give the Panthers a 59-58 lead, and missed a 30-footer as time expired.

It was Orange’s sixth straight loss to fall to 7-7, 0-3 in the Big 8 Conference. Since beating Walter Williams on December 18, the Panthers have gone 22 days without a win.

Franklin returned to the Orange lineup after missing three games with an injured back, suffered during the South Granville Holiday Tournament against Franklinton.

After the contest, McMullin was joined by Orange Coach Derryl Britt, former Orange Coach Greg Motley (who is now the head coach at Southern Durham and still teaches a class with McMullin as a student), along with Joey’s parents for a ceremony at midcourt.

Northern (4-10, 2-3) defeated Orange for the seventh straight time. Orange’s last win against the Knights came on December 30, 2009.

McMullin’s had a baptism by fire in his freshman season. He started the first high school game of his career as Orange faces Leesville Road during a tipoff event at Millbrook High School. The Panthers entered the two-day event undermanned. Several Orange football players, such as Ryan Sellers, Kendall Whitted, Eli Haithcock, and Morgan Paschall, weren’t available because they were preparing to face Havelock in the 2nd round of the 3A State Playoffs. McMullin still scored ten points in a 76-65 loss to the Pride.

He had 16 points against Cedar Ridge in an 88-57 win on January 14, 2017 in Panther Gymnasium. He also scored ten points in Orange’s win over J.F. Webb on February 7, which clinched the Big 8 regular season championship.

McMullin started off this season with a career-high 38 points against Research Triangle. He already has six 20-point games this season, including 21 points in Orange’s 82-32 win over East Chapel Hill on December 17.

It won’t get any easier for the Panthers on Friday night. Northwood, riding atop the Big 8 Conference, will visit Panther Gymnasium on Friday night. Coverage on Hillsboroughsports.com will start at 7:30. You can hear the game on the website, or on our Facebook page.

This week’s Cedar Ridge Red Wolf of the Week is senior basketball forward K.J. Barnes. On Tuesday night, Barnes scored eleven points as the Red Wolves defeated Orange 66-55 for its first win at Panther Gymnasium since 2015. Barnes has starred on the basketball floor and the gridiron for years. In October, he scored the game-winning 2-point conversion in Cedar Ridge’s victory over Chapel Hill in football. This season, Barnes has played an instrumental role as Cedar Ridge has surpassed its win total from all of last season. In his junior season, K.J. didn’t have a varsity football team to play on when the Red Wolves didn’t field a team, but he remained at Cedar Ridge. On Tuesday night, his wait paid off with a hard earned win over a crosstown rival. K.J. Barnes and the rest of the Red Wolves return to action on Friday night when Cedar Ridge hosts Northern Durham.

Entering Tuesday night, Cedar Ridge coaches, players and fans had done a lot of waiting.

Red Wolves Coach Jaison Brooks was just itching to play a game.

It had been 21 days since his Cedar Ridge Red Wolves had taken the floor in a 70-42 loss to Northwood in Pittsboro.

For Cedar Ridge players, they just wanted to beat an Orange team that, just three weeks ago, was 7-1.

Many of them had struggled through a 1-23 season last year. And the year before that, they were 4-20.

None of the Cedar Ridge players were in high school the last time the Red Wolves won at Orange. On January 20, 2015, Payton Pappas hit a 15-footer with one second remaining to give the Red Wolves a 63-61 victory over the Panthers.

They aren’t waiting anymore.

Cedar Ridge outscored Orange 27-10 in the fourth quarter, shooting 11-of-13 from the field in the final eight minutes, to topple Orange 66-55 at a packed Panther Gymnasium on Tuesday night. Mekai Collins, who led Orange in scoring last season, paced the Red Wolves with 29 points.

Cedar Ridge (3-8, 1-2 in the Big 8 Conference) ended a 24-game Big 8 Conference losing streak. The last time the Red Wolves won a Big 8 Conference game, it was January 26, 2017, when they defeated Orange 55-38 at Red Wolves Gymnasium. That was also Cedar Ridge’s last victory over its crosstown rivals before Tuesday.

Jerec Thompson had 13 points to lead Orange, who dropped its fifth straight game. The Panthers played without guard Jason Franklin, who missed his third straight game with a bad back. It was also their second game without senior center Machai Holt, who was dismissed from the team for disciplinary reasons on Friday.

Holt watched from Orange’s student section Tuesday night.

Orange took a 37-24 lead with 6:02 remaining in the third quarter after a 3-pointer from junior Kendrell Brooks. The Panthers, who lived by the three-pointer in the opening two months, missed their next 12 shots from beyond the arc.

Cedar Ridge ended the game on a 42-19 run in the final 14 minutes. Collins scored 21 points in the second half against his old team.

“We got down because we missed some shots,” said Cedar Ridge Coach Jaison Brooks. “We had some bad defensive possessions. We knew if we could fix those things, we could get back into the game. The crew we put it did just that. They stepped in and stepped up the defensive intensity. They were able to knock down some shots.”

After Jared Wood drained a 15-foot jumper to put Orange ahead 47-43 early in the fourth quarter, the Red Wolves went on a 6-0 run to take its first lead since it was 5-4 in the opening minutes. After senior K.J. Barnes split two free throws, Collins took a skip pass from Cameron Harper and drained a 3-pointer to tie the game.

Collins found Derrick Smith, who played the final minutes with four fouls, off a transition basket to give the Red Wolves the lead 49-47. After Kyle Stanley and Brooks notched consecutive field goals to five Orange a 51-49 lead, Harper hit a driving lay-up to tie the game, then Collins drained a 3-pointer to put Cedar Ridge ahead for good.

In the final four minutes, Orange shot 1-for-8 from the field. Smith put a cherry on top of a very tasty ice cream sundae with a 3-pointer with 1:14, naturally off an assist from Collins.

In the fourth quarter, Cedar Ridge hit all nine of its shots from 2-point range. They were 2-of-4 from behind the arc.

“We got totally out of character in the fourth quarter,” said Orange coach Derryl Britt. “It was not mature basketball. We got frantic. I think as Cedar started to run and get back in the game, we started to press. Then we got away from playing team basketball. It became ‘Let me beat my guy.’ They didn’t do very well for us.”

Orange led 31-21 at halftime after Joey McMullin banked in a 3-pointer from 25-feet at the second quarter buzzer. It was McMullin’s only 3-pointer of the game. The Panthers shot 6-of-27 from outside the arc.

Cedar Ridge will travel to Granville Central on Wednesday night, then host Northern Durham on Friday.

Orange will host Northern Durham on Thursday, then welcome Chapel Hill to Hillsborough on Friday.

CEDAR RIDGE 66, ORANGE 55

CEDAR RIDGE–K.J. Barnes 12, Chris Tinnen 3, Cameron Harper 8, Derrick Smith 9, Grayson Ramos 3, James Ragland 1, Mekai Collins 29, Grady Ray 1.

ORANGE–Jerec Thompson 13, Kendrell Brooks 8, J.J. Thompson 2, Kyle Stanley 6, Joey McMullin 11, Tucker Miller 6, Jared Wood 7, Hunter Birch 2.

3-Pointers: Cedar Ridge 5 (Collins 3, Smith, Harper) Orange 6 (Je. Thompson 3, Brooks, Woods, McMullin)

FOULED OUT: Cedar Ridge-none. Orange (Miller, McMullin).

With competition mounting in a deep Big 8 Conference, the Orange women’s basketball team had no time for upset bids in its opening game against Cedar Ridge.

Last January, the Red Wolves shocked the Lady Panthers 44-37 at Red Wolves Gymnasium, an early conference loss that set Orange back in its futile attempt to catch Hillside for the Big 8 Championship.

On Tuesday night, Orange junior Jala Rainey scored Orange’s first 13 points–then didn’t score again. It was just as well as she received plenty of help in the final 24 minutes.

Guard Samantha George had a career-high ten points to push the Lady Panthers past the Red Wolves 61-34 at Panther Gymnasium. Freshman Erin Jordan-Cornell registered nine points and six rebounds as the Lady Panthers (8-3, 2-1 in the Big 8 Conference) won its fourth straight.

Nadia Oswald led the Red Wolves with 13 points, her fourth game in double figures this season. Senior Tori Dalehite returned to the lineup for the Red Wolves after suffering an injury to her right foot in November.

Orange sophomore Mary Moss Wirt missed her seventh straight game with an injured right leg suffered against Carrboro on December 12. Wirt, who averaged 4.1 points per game as a freshman, figured to carry a heavier offensive load this season after the graduation of leading scorers Ices Barnett and Lauren Cates from last season’s 19-7 squad.

Without her, Orange has relied on sophomore point guard Aaliyah Harris for points. Coach B.J. Condron also wants Jordan-Cornell’s 5-foot-11 frame to step to the forefront with Wirt’s status in question.

“We’ve been emphasizing that,” said Orange Coach B.J. Condron. “We feel like she does a good job of getting open, but we don’t do a good job of seeing her. Sometimes we force it when it’s not there. She does a good job of finishing down low.”

Catherine Coyle and Oswald scored consecutive field goals in the opening minutes to give Cedar Ridge a 4-2 lead, but Rainey’s 3-pointer off a feed from Harris put Orange ahead for good. The Lady Panthers finished the first quarter on a 16-5 run and led by double digits from that point forward.

It was among the deepest Orange’s efforts of the season. Of the ten players who suited up, eight scored. Freshman Katelyn Van Mater also had a career-high eight points. Junior Cheyenne Mann had six points, one short of her career-mark set against Bartlett Yancey on December 27.

As Orange prepares for Northern Durham on Thursday night, Condron is set to play without Wirt for the foreseeable future, if not the rest of the way.

“I think slowly, they’re getting used to it,” said Orange coach B.J. Condron. “The rotation changes and you have to go deeper into our bench. People are getting more comfortable playing.”

Cedar Ridge (1-10, 0-3) will travel to Granville Central on Wednesday night. Then they host Northern Durham on Friday night at Red Wolves Gymnasium.

After Orange’s trip to Northern, the Lady Panthers will host a Chapel Hill team that defeated Northwood on Tuesday night. The Tigers’ win created a six-way tie for first place in the loss column. Northwood is 3-1, while East Chapel Hill, Southern Durham, Orange and Chapel Hill are 2-1, while Vance County is 1-1.

ORANGE 61, CEDAR RIDGE 34

CEDAR RIDGE–Catherine Coyle 2, Nadia Oswald 13, Jacori Walton 5, Takia Nichols 4, Tori Dalehite 4, Phoenix Smith 6.

ORANGE–Aaliyah Harris 7, Jala Rainey 13, Jarmil Wingate 3, Erin Jordan-Cornell 9, Samantha George 10, Katelyn Van Mater 8, Brenna Mehl 6, Cheyenne Mann 5.

3-POINTERS: CEDAR RIDGE (Oswald). ORANGE 3 (Harris, Rainey 2)

FOULED OUT—Coyle, Walton, Lloyd.

The Orange women’s basketball team claimed its fourth straight victory on Tuesday night. The Lady Panthers defeated Cedar Ridge 61-34 at Panther Gymnasium. Sophomore Aaliyah Harris had seven points and seven assists. Her classmate, Jarmil Wingate, added six rebounds as Orange improved to 8-3 on the season. It was Orange’s seven straight game without star shooting guard Mary Moss Wirt, who was injured against Carrboro on December 12. Despite the loss of its best outside shooter, the Lady Panthers finished fifth in the Eastern Alamance Holiday Hoops Tournament on December 26-28 in Mebane, winning its final two games against Riverside and Bartlett Yancey. The Lady Panthers will journey to Northern Durham to face the Lady Knights on Thursday night at 7:30 at Poe Gymtorium.