ROCKINGHAM — Playing on its home court in the second Raider Classic Jamboree, the Richmond Senior High School basketball team showed out in Tuesday’s first day of competition.
Third-year head coach Donald Pettigrew and the Raiders bookended the first of the two-day tournament with a pair of wins, while dropping a close decision in a regularly unscheduled second game.
Played at RSHS and Richmond County Ninth Grade Academy, the Raiders opened with a 45-26 win over Western Harnett High School. Their second win came against Pine Forest High School in the day’s finale, as a strong second half ended in a 58-43 win over the Trojans.
Richmond’s lone loss came to Marlboro County High School, a 46-37 decision, that saw the Bulldogs overcome a second-half deficit to earn the win.
With nearly a dozen teams in attendance, all games were played using two 20-minute halves with a running clock. Foul shots were limited to just one per foul and were worth two points each if made.
Having just come off a silver medal win at the Powerade State Games in Kannapolis over the weekend, Pettigrew’s squad got to work early against Western Harnett. Leading the charge against the Eagles was rising junior forward Nygie Stroman, who netted a game-high 15 points.
Adding 10 points of his own was rising senior center Jarvis Tillman, eight of which came in a dominating second half. Richmond jumped out to a 27-15 halftime lead, which saw Stroman score 12 of his points in the opening 20 minutes.
The Raiders started the game on a 10-2 run over the Eagles, seeing rising sophomore Jalen David score all five of his points in that span. Stroman hit a deep contested three in the first half, before ending it with a pair of slam dunks.
Western Harnett would hit a three-pointer in the first 30 seconds of the second half, but go on a scoring drought that lasted over eight minutes. The Raider defense held the Eagles to just 11 second-half points, while Tillman got big down low for his eight points of the half.
Against Marlboro County, the Raiders found themselves in an early 7-0 hole, but an 18-3 run in the middle of the half saw them take an 18-10 lead. Rising senior guard Quamir Sivels was responsible for 10 of those points, as he finished the scrimmage with a team-high 14 points.
The Bulldogs tied the game at 32 points with 8:10 left in the second half, and finished on a 14-5 spurt to hand Richmond its only loss. Neither team was slated to play each other on the first day, but after New Life Christian Academy failed to show, Pettigrew took advantage of the opportunity to get his team some more playing time.
To cap the day, Richmond used an explosive second-half scoring outburst against Pine Forest High School. Up 24-21 at the half thanks to a team-high 10 points from rising sophomore guard Kellan Hood in the opening 20 minutes, the Raiders would outscore the Trojans 34-21 in the second half to ice the win.
Adding to Hood’s impressive first half was Sivels, who scored 13 of his game-high 15 points in the second stanza. He drained three triples in the closing 20 minutes, as Tillman joined the scoring barrage with eight points, including a dunk.
Controlling the pace of play for Richmond in all three games was rising senior guard Patrick McLaughlin, who added five, six and six points, respectively, in each game.
The Raider Classic Jamboree will conclude Wednesday, as Richmond has three more games on the docket. They’ll open with Rocky River High School at 10 a.m., followed by Southern Lee High School (3 p.m.) and Marlboro County (6 p.m.).
