Orange reaches region semis

ORANGE — The Orange County boys basketball team has come alive in the postseason. The Hornets, fresh off their Jefferson District tournament title, continued their stellar play on Tuesday night against Potomac Falls in the quarterfinals of the Region II, Division 4 tournament.

Orange used a total team effort and its stingy defense to dispatch the Panthers 75-66 to secure its fifth straight win.

The Hornets, the No. 3 seed in the tournament, advance to the semifinals on Thursday at Broad Run.

“Slowly, gradually, we’re picking it up on defense,” Orange coach Keyode Rogers said. “The coaching staff and I are a defensive ball team, and I think they’re buying into it. We led off a few times and had to turn it on and turn it off.

“We jumped out quick, but they battled back — that’s a good team. That’s a young team, so they’re going to be good in the future. They never gave up, and we were just good enough to stay ahead at the end.”

Orange set the tone early, jumping out to an 8-2 first-quarter lead behind three straight baskets from D.J. Brown. The 6-foot-5 senior drained a three to get things going, then made a nifty move underneath. Spencer Jarrell got a quick steal on the other end, and threw it downcourt to Brown, who finished the play with a wide-open two-hand dunk. Quintin Hunter made one of two free throws to complete the scoring spurt.

But, as it has done all season, Orange relied on its defense to key the win. The Hornets were able to get quick baskets in transition to build the lead, then did a good job of limiting the Panthers to one shot on the other end. Tyler Seal and Mike Nixon combined to shut down one of Potomac Falls’ leading scorers, Gregory Woodlief, in the first half.

The Panthers cut an eight-point lead to one (22-21) with 3:21 to play in the second quarter. But it didn’t take long for the Hornets to respond, as they went on a 9-0 run to take control again. Orange got key baskets from Chad Galimore and Hunter and two from Brown (including a 3-pointer) during the stretch to take a 34-25 lead by halftime.

Orange (16-10) continued to pour it on in the second half, leading by as many as 17 points in the third quarter.

Brown had the hot hand, finishing with a game-high 23 points (including five threes), but the Hornets had a balanced attack as 10 different players reached the scoring column.

“Quintin and D.J. have been talking about team ball. And they’re responding at the right time, which is good for us,” Rogers said. “We have a lot of guys stepping up, playing well on both ends of the court and helping us out. It’s hard to focus on two guys when all of those guys are clicking like they are.”

Hunter added 13 points to go along with 10 rebounds and a handful of assists, and Romie Powell had a career-high 10 points, all of which came in the fourth quarter.

Potomac Falls continued to chip away at the lead, cutting the deficit to eight with 1:55 to play. The Panthers got solid production from their senior leaders — Kevin Bartnick and Woodlief during the run. Bartnick paced the team with 19 points.

But Orange got back on track with a pair of free throws from Tyler Seal. Hunter and Seal got quick baskets in the closing minute to help the Hornets pull away.