ROCKINGHAM — A milestone week has named senior point guard Javian Drake as the Official Richmond County Male Student-Athlete of the Week presented by Rockingham NC Self Storage.
Adding some flare to his already impressive senior season, Drake surpassed the 1,000-point mark of his career last Tuesday while also helping the Raider basketball team to two victories.
A three-year starter for head coach Donald Pettigrew, Drake has been an offensive and defensive catalyst for the Raiders, who also clinched their second consecutive outright conference championship. This is Drake’s third career recognition.
Athletic Profile
Year: Senior
Winter sport: Basketball
Position: Point guard
Seasons on Varsity: 3 seasons
Other Sports: Football, baseball
CLASSROOM CREDITS WITH JAVIAN DRAKE
A three-sport student-athlete who competes year-round, Drake has put the time into his schoolwork. Last month he started his final semester of high school, with graduation just a few months away.
During the fall semester, Drake loaded up on courses at Richmond and Richmond Community College as a dual-enrollment student. He took English 112, Math 171 and Spanish 111 at the local college and earned an A in English.
At the high school, Drake recorded As in both of his classes — Personal Finance Honors and Weight Training Honors. He currently has a 4.34 weighted GPA.
This spring, he’s splitting his time evenly with two classes at each school. At RichmondCC he’s enrolled in Spanish 112 and is taking the second required semester of Math 171. At the high school, Drake is taking English IV Honors and Weight Training Honors.
Senior point guard Javian Drake scores on a jumper during the third quarter at Lee County. (Kyle Pillar/The Richmond Observer)
“1K CLUB” WITH JAVIAN DRAKE
Entering last week, the countdown was on for Drake to reach 1K career points, which he surpassed early in the third quarter of Richmond’s 102-64 win over Union Pines High School.
Finishing with 17 points, Drake needed just 13 points to hit the milestone. He recorded 12 points in the first half, including seven points during the first eight minutes and two three-pointers.
Richmond’s first points of the second half were courtesy of a three-pointer from the right corner by Drake, giving him 1,002 points at the time. Drake registered five assists and four steals in the win, which also clinched the Sandhills Athletic Conference regular-season title for the Raiders.
Three nights later, Drake and company rolled past Lee County High School 92-40 on the road. He scored 17 points again, one of four Raiders to reach double-digits.
All of his points came in the first half, starting with four field goals for eight points in the first quarter. He added three more buckets and a triple in the second quarter, finishing with four assists and four steals.
Between both games, Drake shot 15-of-33 from the field (45.5%) and made four three-pointers.
In 23 games this season, Drake is second for Richmond in scoring with 14.8 points per game. He leads the team with 4.7 assists per game and is tied with teammate Paul McNeil Jr. for the team lead with 2.7 steals per game.
Drake and the Raiders (18-5, 11-0 SAC) will end their regular season with senior night at home Friday against Scotland High School (8-14, 3-7 SAC). Tip-off is set for 7:30 p.m.
RAPID RESPONSE VIDEO WITH JAVIAN DRAKE
The Richmond Observer will publish two more Official Richmond County Student-Athletes of the Week next week.
