HILLSBOROUGH - East Chapel Hill scored a season low for points last Wednesday. For Wildcat coach Ray Hartsfield, that was almost as troubling as East's 47-37 loss at Orange High School.

"When we hold a team under 50, we should have a chance to win," Hartsfield said as his basketball team headed for its bus outside the Panthers' gym.

The Wildcats' third straight loss, on the cusp of starting their PAC-6 schedule, dropped them to 1-4 overall. East was scheduled to face Durham Jordan (3-3) on Friday night in Wildcat Gym, and Hartsfield was eager to see his team get back into synch as they entered conference play.(See newsobserver.com for results of Friday's game.)

"We've always said that the big thing in conference games is that you have to protect your home court, and we're playing our first conference game at home," Hartsfield noted. "So, we've got to protect our home court and get into the conference mix right away."

To do that, the Wildcats needed to correct a significant problem, Hartsfield said.

"Our shooting's not very good right now," he said.

East Chapel Hill started off fine Tuesday night. It connected on nine of its first 15 shots and led most of the first half at OHS. Despite missing eight of their first 14 shots, the Panthers hit four 3-pointers early and finally got in front on Jalen Pittman's trey with 1:25 left in the second quarter.

Taking a 22-21 lead into the third quarter, Orange went up 27 -23 on Sean Motley's third 3-pointer of the night and then 31-25 on a three by Matt Gattis.

The Wildcats played solid defense all night, holding Orange to just three baskets on its last 18 possessions, but veered off track offensively in the second half, hitting just three of 10 shots in the third quarter and three of 13 in the fourth.

Another three by Gattis and a running one-hander by Jawann Chambers put Orange ahead 43-34 with 2:30 left to play in the game. The Panthers hit five of six free throws in the last minute to ice the win.

"East Chapel Hill made us play a lot slower than we normally play," Orange coach Greg Motley said. "That was a key for them. But our kids did a good job of playing a game that wasn't our style of game and pulling out a win."

Sean Motley, who had 11 points the night before in a 70-62 loss to 4A Jordan, scored 14 Tuesday to lead Orange (3-2) against East Chapel Hill.

Michael Newton led East with 11 points.

East Chapel Hill girls down Orange

CHAPEL HILL Playing on its home court Tuesday night, the East Chapel Hill girls basketball team displayed none of the problems that plagued their male counterparts at Orange.

The Wildcats (2-1) got balanced scoring from their still young lineup and downed Orange 44-35.

Ally Mack, the only returning player from last year's East team, led the Wildcat scoring with 13 points, while ninth-grader Sarah Towne had 10 points. Sophomore Emily Kupec added eight points, junior Adrienne Davis seven, and Bethany Nicoll scored six.

Deja Johnson led Orange (2-3) with nine points.

The Panthers did their best to rally after trailing 25-11 at halftime, and they were within 32-27 after the third quarter, but East pulled away over the final 8 minutes to stay undefeated at home.