WADESBORO — The first quarter of Thursday’s boys’ junior varsity basketball game between the Richmond Raiders and Anson Bearcats saw both teams flip the scoreboard using substantial runs.
Two days after the Raiders and first-year head coach Kenta Hutchinson rolled to a 46-point win over Anson, Thursday’s regular-season series finale was much closer for the better part of the game.
Richmond, however, would settle in during the second half and earn a 55-35 win to improve to 2-0 on the young season.
Freshman Dakota Chavis followed up his double-digit performance from Tuesday’s game with a career-high 14 points in the road win. He netted six points in the first half before adding the final eight in the last period of play.
Chavis was the only Raider in double figures, but sophomores Travion Dumas and Mehki Harrington both notched season-highs with eight points. Sophomore Micah Jackson contributed seven points, while Luke Williams (6), Xavier Collazo (5), Robert Bethea (4) and Donovan Gadson (3) completed the list of all eight players scoring.
“Defensively, we had to make some adjustments,” Hutchinson commented. “We didn’t look as good in the first half as we did (on Tuesday). We played down and I told the guys we can’t have lapses like that because against good teams it’ll be harder to come back.
“At halftime I told them we needed to play with more confidence and make some big shots,” he continued. “Dakota was aggressive for us in the second half and really helped us open things up.”
The Raiders opened the game on a 9-2 run, using buckets from Bethea, Harrington and a triple from the top of the key from Chavis. But Anson responded with a 16-2 run to close the final three minutes of the quarter to take an 18-11 lead.
Richmond trailed by as many as nine points to start the second, but a Gadson three-pointer, his only shot of the game, started another swing in the Raiders’ favor. Collazo joined the scoring with four free throws in the middle of the quarter, and Chavis and Harrington hit back-to-back triples to give the Raiders a 25-22 halftime lead.
In the second quarter, Hutchinson’s squad outscored the Bearcats 14-4, which would later prove to be one of the difference makers in the win.
Thirteen more points by Richmond in the third stanza opened up the scoreboard a little more, starting with a Bethea putback, two Jackson free throws and Dumas mid-range jumper.
Jackson, who scored 19 points a game prior with a lethal three ball, splashed home a triple at the 1:45 mark of the quarter to give Richmond a 34-25 lead.Three Dumas shots from the charity stripe, and another from Collazo put the Raiders up 11 points heading into the final six minutes.
Chavis would go to work and score all eight of his second-half points in the fourth. He had two drives through the paint, a deep three from the left wing and tallied the Raiders’ final free throw of the game with 45 seconds left.
Williams had four of his points down the stretch and Dumas, who came off the bench, drained another three-pointer.
“We didn’t run the 3-2 zone defense the way we’ve been practicing it, so we switched to man defense,” Hutchinson said of limiting the Bearcats’ scoring in the second half to just 13 points. “We have some guys who can move and our man defense was our best thing today.
“I’m so proud that everyone scored tonight and that’s what I want to see every game,” he closed. “There are eight guys who can go, and they showed that tonight.”
The JV Raiders (2-0) will get back to the hardwood on Tuesday, Dec. 3, at home against Southern Lee High School.
