ROCKINGHAM — Friday’s contest between two of the Sandhills Athletic Conference’s heavyweights didn’t go the way the Richmond Raiders wanted it to.
Hosting the defending NCHSAA 4A co-state champion Lumberton Pirates, the Raiders let an early lead slip. Despite a late fourth-quarter surge, Richmond lost its first conference game by a final score of 64-58.
Senior center Travis Thomas, who netted a season-high seven points, said the bout was an up and down roller coaster of intensity that Richmond matched early.
“I think we came out strong as a team.” Thomas said. “Our goal was to match their intensity the whole time, but we let off the gas. Our intensity was up and down all game.”
Senior forward Nygie Stroman was the Raiders’ spark in the opening quarter, scoring 11 of his game-high 19 points. He finished the game with a double-double, adding 10 rebounds and four blocks.
“I was just playing hard and tried to get every rebound in the post,” Thomas added of his seven boards and one block. “Nygie had the hot hand early on and it was my job to try and find him.”
Head coach Donald Pettigrew noted he was proud of his team’s effort, but said an off night from the field, along with a couple of defensive mistakes, cost the Raiders their third-straight conference win.
“It just wasn’t our night tonight,” Pettigrew explained. “The guys played hard, but the ball didn’t bounce our way. We are a better shooting team than we shot tonight. We missed shots and drives that we normally make. That’s just part of basketball.
“We can compete with anyone and it was the little things that hurt us tonight,” he added. “We didn’t get the rebounds or shoot well from the free throw line, or get back on defense. But I’ll take this team over anybody because I know the guys competed hard.”
Stroman scored eight of Richmond’s first 10 points in the game, working his way around Angel Bowie in the post to find the glass. He added a deep two from the right corner to put the Raiders up 10-5 halfway through the opening period.
A 9-0 run by the Pirates put the visitors up 14-10, but a Patrick McLaughlin free throw and a Stroman triple from the top of the arc with 20 seconds left tied the game after the opening eight minutes.
The second quarter was also tightly contested, but Lumberton took a 28-26 lead into the break. Thomas came alive for Richmond in the second, hitting a jumper off the glass before splashing down a triple from the right wing.
Senior Dylan Lewis added three of his five total points, and junior Xavier Collazo made a layup to get his night started. A putback by Stroman and a Lewis free throw in the final minute pulled Richmond within two.
Lumberton’s Charlie Miller, who led the Pirates with 17 points, scored 12 points in the first half. He scored all of his points from beyond the three-point line.
In the third, Lumberton (5-1, 3-1 SAC) outpaced Richmond 17-12. Matthew Locklear, who netted 14 points for the Pirates, led the way with eight points in transition. Jadarion Chatman added six of his 13 points.
Following a timeout with Richmond down nine points, freshman Paul McNeil scored his first two points on a jumper. That started a 7-4 run by Richmond to cut the deficit to six points, 39-33.
Stroman added another bucket and sophomore Dakota Chavis hit a free throw for the first of his four points. In the closing 15 seconds, Collazo kissed the glass for a basket and Chavis rattled home a triple from the right corner.
Three-pointers from Collazo, who finished with a season-high seven points, and McNeil to start the fourth made it a 49-44 difference. The two teams would go point-for-point in the final five minutes, with Lumberton holding on late after the Raiders were forced to foul.
The Raiders wouldn’t go quietly, using a McNeil triple and seven points from McLaughlin to pull the game with five points.
McLaughlin and McNeil both finished with eight points, and the senior point guard added a team-high five assists and four rebounds. McNeil added eight boards, three assists and one block.
With just three regular-season games left, Pettigrew said the Raiders (3-2, 2-1 SAC) won’t waste time on the loss. The team’s only focus is to get as many wins as possible and try to qualify for the state playoffs for the third consecutive year.
“We have to keep playing, keep trying to get better,” Pettigrew closed. “We need to be ready to play Tuesday and we can’t focus on this. I’m not going to beat the guys up about it — I told them to keep their heads up and get ready to win out.”
The Raiders will host Seventy-First High School (2-3, 2-3 SAC) on Tuesday at 7 p.m. It will be the first meeting between the two teams this winter.
