ROCKINGHAM — The Richmond Senior High School boys’ basketball team finished the regular season as co-Sandhills Athletic Conference champions on Friday.
Notching their 21st win of the season, the Raiders defeated rival Scotland High School 84-60 on Senior Night.
Finishing the regular season with a 21-1 mark, and an 11-1 record against conference opponents, Richmond and Pinecrest High School tied for the co-championship.
The Raiders and Patriots had matching conference records and split their two regular-season meetings, with the home team winning each time.
The one loss is the fewest in the regular season in program history, and the lowest in conference play since the 1995-96 season, which saw the Raiders finish as the state runner-up.
Prior to the game, the Raiders recognized their six seniors — Xavier Collazo, Will Dawkins, Travion Dumas, Domanyck McDonald, Deshon Watson and Jalen David, who passed away in Aug. 2020.
Dakota Chavis (left) and Javian Drake (right) hold up a poster remembering teammate Jalen David. (Kyle Pillar/The Richmond Observer)
Although it was Senior Night, sophomore shooting guard Paul McNeil shined with a career-high 41 points and 12 rebounds. He spread his scoring evenly, notching 21 points in the first half and 20 points in the final two periods.
Richmond’s other top scorers were sophomore Javian Drake (11 points), junior Dakota Chavis (9 points, 5 assists), sophomore Jamarion Wall (9 points, all three-pointers) and Dawkins (8 points, 8 boards).
Scotland started the game on a 9-2 run, with Richmond’s points coming on a steal and transition basket from Dumas, his only points of the game.
The Fighting Scots used the early momentum and eight of Lamonte Cousar’s team-high 33 points to take a 23-19 lead after one.
McNeil, who ended the game 10-of-11 from the free throw line, had five free throws in the first. He also connected on a put back and a three-pointer from the top of the arc.
Sophomore Paul McNeil (2) lays in two of his career-high 41 points in Friday’s win over Scotland. (Kyle Pillar/The Richmond Observer)
Chavis helped Richmond stay within a couple of possessions with seven first-quarter points. He also hit a triple from downtown and added two drives in the paint.
Richmond used an 11-2 spurt at the start of the second quarter to gain the lead. McNeil started it with a breakaway jam, followed by two transition buckets from Drake and another McNeil putback.
Dawkins scored his first points after collecting an offensive rebound and Watson added a free throw to put Richmond ahead 30-25.
Seven more points from McNeil, including a deep three, a triple from Wall and a hard drive by Chavis in the final 3:51 of the half gave the Raiders a 42-38 advantage at the break.
Cousar had 19 points at halftime for the Fighting Scots (5-15, 3-9 SAC).
The third quarter was McNeil’s highest-scoring frame of the night, which saw him net 12 points. He started with a jumper and free throw, scored an old-fashioned three-point play, and hit two triples in the final 20 seconds to give him 33 points.
Drake and Wall kept Richmond ahead with one three-pointer each, Watson netted his final two points on a putback and junior Zion Baldwin added a free throw to go along with his 8 rebounds.
Richmond outscored the Scots 21-14 in the final eight minutes. Three free throws, another dunk and a three-pointer closed McNeil’s career night.
Drake notched four free throws, Wall added his final triple and Dawkins netted his final six points on two free throws and two shots in the paint.
Junior Dakota Chavis drives past Patrick Reaves for two points. (Kyle Pillar/The Richmond Observer)
Cousar scored six points in the third and eight points in the fourth for Scotland. Isaac Ferguson netted 12 points in the loss, Chris Quick scored 8 points, Patrick Reaves had 5 points and Jaiquez Caldwell scored 2 points.
A coin toss between Richmond and Pinecrest will be used to determine the No. 1 seed of the Sandhills Athletic Conference tournament, which will begin Tuesday.
The coin toss will be done on Saturday at the coaches meeting, according to head coach Donald Pettigrew.
If the Raiders win the toss, they will get a first-round bye. If they lose they will be the No. 2 seed and host No. 7 Southern Lee High School (3-17, 2-10 SAC).
