After flying high against the Collinwood Railroaders last Thursday, the Orange Lions came back down to earth. Orange suffered a tough 63-41 loss at the hands of Hawken on Friday. While losing is never fun, Orange can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Ohio basketball rankings (they are ranked 536th, while Hawken is ranked 154th).
When it comes to explaining why Orange lost, one person who can't be blamed is Ernie Pryor. Despite the final result, he dropped a double-double on 20 points and 15 rebounds. That was a full 48.8% of Orange's points, marking the sixth time in a row he's earned more than a third of the team's points. Another player making a difference was Luke Daberko, who scored six points along with five rebounds.
Orange has not been sharp recently as the team has lost three of their last four contests, which put a noticeable dent in their 7-13 record this season. As for Hawken, the win was the 11th in a row for them, bringing their record for this year to 15-3.
Orange will be playing at home against Bard Early College at 5:45 p.m. on Monday. Bard Early College is coming into the match with four straight victories on the road, so Orange is out to stop a squad with plenty of momentum. As for Hawken, they and Mayfield will face off at 7:00 p.m. on February 10th without much rest after finishing up games yesterday. One thing working in Mayfield's favor is that they have posted big point totals in their last five contests.
