LIONS TURN BLACK FRIDAY ORANGE

By Noah Ricks

PEPPER PIKE, OH – The Orange Lions boys’ basketball team found the perfect way to celebrate Black Friday: with an opening season win. It was a well-rounded attack from start to finish as 10 players scored for the Lions in their 63-36 victory over Collinwood to start the 2024-25 campaign.

The game would actually be a stalemate throughout the first four minutes as both teams struggled to put the ball in the basket. It would take until just under four minutes to go in the first quarter before the Lions opened the scoring with a three-pointer from Ryan Doerner. They would then put together a nice run to end the period with a 9-2 advantage.

Things would totally shift over the next two quarters, however, as the boys from Pepper Pike outscored Collinwood 40-16 in the second and third with the help from Lutheran East transfer Alex McCulloch. He would shine for his new team as he picked up 12 of his 17 game-high points in a third quarter that included him throwing down one and two-handed jams alike.

The Railroaders from Collinwood were able to get an 18-14 edge in the fourth, but it was the Lions who played the balanced attack all night long, compiling 11 twos and 11 threes, respectively. Alongside McCulloch was a load of offensive power from his teammates. Dillon Mathur contributed 9 for the Lions with 3 shots from downtown, all of them coming in the second half. Luke Oblaczynski also got 2 hits from beyond the arc and finished with 8. Doerner picked up 2 more threes as he totaled 7. Jayvion Perkins led Collinwood with 11 tallies.

Orange (1-0) will now hit the road for a huge non-conference game on Tuesday at Warrensville Heights. The Lions were defeated by the Tigers a year ago 73-45. Collinwood (0-1) now sets their sights on their home opener Tuesday night against East Technical. You can watch interviews of Orange coach Marvin Rashad and Alex McCulloch below.