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Orange boys surive on the road against Louisa

Both teams came into Friday’s matchup in a rut, with each having dropped their last three Jefferson District matches. So one way or another, one team’s outlook was going to change. And behind their big first half, that team was Orange County, as they were able to build a double-digit lead over host Louisa County before holding off a second half surge from the Lions, 68-64.

“I think in the first half we played a lot of team ball,” said Hornets coach Keyode Rogers. “We ran our sets and saw the court well. In second half I thought we got selfish offensively and that always affects your defense. Sometimes I don’t think that everyone on our team understands that it’s your defense that creates offense.”

There was little question that Orange’s defense fueled its offense in the early going as the Lions struggled with turnovers and the Hornets made sure to turn those into points. Orange found itself  up by seven points heading into the second quarter, and with just a few minutes before the half, its lead was as large as 20.

But in the final minutes of the second frame, Louisa came to life, trimming the deficit to 15 points at the half. The Lions’ offensive momentum continued into the third quarter where they were able to whittle away another eight points to get within seven.

In the first half of the fourth quarter, Orange was able to extend its lead to 10 points, but with four minutes remaining, Louisa made another push. Andre Hunter and Alan White led the surge for the Lions as they forced Orange into offensive mistakes and made the Hornets pay in transition.

The Lions clawed their way to within five points with two minutes to play, and with 7.6 seconds on the clock, Louisa was as close as three points. But Orange would not falter and was able to make it a two possession game again at the free throw line to hold on for good.

“Our kids give everything they have every time they’re out on the court, they just don’t always make the smartest decisions,” said Louisa coach Preston Gordon. “I love every single one of these kids, but we’ve got to put together all four quarters and stop spotting teams these leads.”

Orange forward Tres Winkler came into the game with a bit of a cold hand but was able to reverse his fortune with both his 3-point shooting and inside penetration.

“I was in a slump before this game,” Winkler said. “But I had a few hard practices and worked on my shot and it was falling tonight and I’m starting to feel pretty good about it.”

The senior Hornet led his team with 18 points and also collected seven rebounds. Fellow seniors Romie Powell and Josh Pugh joined Winkler in double figures with 10 and 12 points respectively. Tyler Seal and Jamal Hunter gave Orange five players with at least nine points.

Louisa wound up with the game’s top two scorers in White and Hunter as the junior tandem finished with 23 and 18 respective points. Unfortunately for the Lions, that wound being more than 64 percent of their offense and only Kenny Welch managed to score more than four points. The senior put up seven points.

Orange (6-7, 3-4) travels to Spotsylvania today at 7:30 p.m.

Louisa (1-10, 1-7) hosts Caroline County on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m.

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