ROCKINGHAM — A trio of Richmond Senior High School boys basketball players has been named the Official Richmond County Male Student-Athletes of the Week presented by Rockingham NC Self Storage.
Seniors Javian Drake, Paul McNeil Jr. and Jamarion Wall have been a powerful force the last three seasons together on the varsity basketball team. All three were instrumental in guiding the Raiders to their third straight Sandhills Athletic Conference tournament championship.
With the regular season in the books, Richmond received the No. 2 seed in the 4A East state playoffs.
CLASSROOM CREDITS WITH THE RAIDERS
Drake, McNeil Jr. and Wall have each been named Student-Athlete of the Week already this season and have stressed the importance of completing classwork ahead of basketball.
As a trio, the three Raiders have a combined weighted grade point average of 3.19.
Drake, who is a dual-enrollment student and is taking classes at Richmond and Richmond Community College, leads the way with a 3.43 GPA. McNeil Jr. currently has a 3.10 GPA and Wall has a 3.05 GPA.
This spring, Drake has two courses at RichmondCC and two at the high school. He’s taking Spanish 112 and Math 171 at the college and is in English IV Honors and Weight Training Honors. During the first semester, Drake made As in three of his five classes.
McNeil Jr. is rounding out his high school academic career with four courses at Richmond. After making A/B honor roll the first semester, he’s now enrolled in Economics and Personal Finance, Math IV, Physical Education and Spanish II.
This spring, Wall is also taking four classes at Richmond in his final semester before graduation. He’s got English IV Honors, Math IV, Physical Education and Spanish II.
“SAC TOURNAMENT CHAMPS” WITH THE RAIDERS
Over the past three seasons that Drake, McNeil and Wall have been starters together on the varsity team, they’ve accumulated a 41-1 record against Sandhills Athletic Conference opponents.
That impressive streak improved last week as they led the No. 1 Raiders to victories over No. 4 Pinecrest and No. 2 Southern Lee to clinch another SAC tournament title.
Between the two wins, the three seniors combined for 80.2% of the Raiders total scoring (138 points of 172 total points).
Against the Patriots, they teamed up for 66 of Richmond’s 85 points (77.6%) and followed that with 72 of the Raiders’ 87 points (82.8%) against the Cavaliers.
McNeil Jr., who leads the 4A East in scoring, continued his strong offensive efforts with a game-high 33 points in Richmond’s 85-73 win over Pinecrest in the semifinals. He shot 13-of-21 from the floor with four three-pointers and had five rebounds, six assists and three steals.
Netting 7-of-14 from the floor, Drake added 18 points, including two triples against the Patriots. He also had four rebounds, six assists and two steals. Wall scored 15 points (5-of-15), making all of his buckets from beyond the arc, and had one board, two assists and four steals.
Just a day later, the Raiders powered their way to an 87-46 victory over Southern Lee and used a running clock to win the tournament.
Hitting 16-of-24 shooting, McNeil Jr. netted a game-high 42 points, featuring six three-pointers. He recorded a double-double with 10 rebounds and had three assists and four steals.
Drake (16 points) and Wall (14 points) combined to shoot 11-of-25 from the field, with Wall knocking down four more treys. Adding on, Drake finished with four rebounds, six assists and a steal, while Wall dished out nine assists to go with his two boards and one steal.
The No. 2 Raiders (21-5) host No. 31 East Chapel Hill (10-15) Tuesday for the first round of the NCHSAA 4A East state playoffs. Action will start at 7:30 p.m.
RAPID RESPONSE VIDEO WITH THE RAIDERS
The Richmond Observer will publish two more Official Richmond County Student-Athletes of the Week next week.
