FLORENCE, S.C. — First-year head coach Kenta Hutchinson knows the best asset of the Richmond Senior High School boys’ junior varsity basketball team is its offense. And he watched that unfold in the Raiders’ final pre-season scrimmage on Saturday.
Playing at the Pearl Moore Basketball Center for a 40-minute scrimmage against Wilson High School, the JV Raiders produced enough offense to defeat the Tigers 35-32.
“I was just looking for the guys to shoot the ball today,” Hutchinson said of the final warmup ahead of the regular season. “We’ve got guys who can dribble and shoot, so we were working on being active and moving around.”
This year’s JV Raider team sees a lot of returning faces and is sophomore heavy. Returning to the floor are tenth graders Xavier Collazo, Donovan Gadson, Mehki Harrington, Micah Jackson and Luke Williams. Freshman point guard Dakota Chavis has proven to be a force in the pre-season, while sophomore Robert Bethea brings height in the post.
“Defensively, we have to do a little bit of work and that’s what I have to get on the guys about,” Hutchinson explained. “I told the guys today I was impressed by the way we responded on defense. We haven’t had much time to go over things, but we’re getting better.
Jackson, who scored just two points in the first half, found his range in the final 20 minutes and scored a team-high 14 points. His matching three-pointers midway through the fourth quarter, and two free throws, capped an eight-point stanza for him.
Richmond started the first quarter on a 6-0 run, seeing baskets from Collazo, Williams and free throws from Harrington. But Wilson responded and scored 11 straight points and took a five-point lead into the opening moments of the second quarter.
To put the JV Raiders back ahead, Williams would drive the paint for two, and Collazo drained a triple. Chavis and Jackson had back-to-back steals on defense and raced to the basket for breakaway layups.
Chavis and Collazo ended a 13-point second quarter with another steal and a basket and a putback off the glass, respectively. At the end of the half, Richmond led 19-15.
Wilson, whose varsity program has finished as the South Carolina 4A state champion runner-up the last two years, regained a 23-19 lead in the third. But Jackson added a shot off the glass and Gadson hit free throws to tie the score with a minute left. In the closing seconds of the third, two more free throws from Jackson gave Richmond the final lead change of the game.
To close the scrimmage, Bethea added an early jumper before Jackson went to work. He drilled his two three-pointers from the left wing to give Richmond a 33-27 lead with just over three minutes to go.
Jackson chipped in the final two points from the charity stripe, and the Raiders’ defense held on down the stretch, seeing Collazo force a turnover in the final 10 seconds along the baseline.
“We are really heavy with our guards this year and there are five or six guys who can handle the ball,” Hutchinson noted. “When we’re in transition offense, we can push other teams and don’t have to wait on one or two guys.
“Since we practice and scrimmage with varsity so much, the guys are used to the speed,” he closed. “We’re going to run a lot on the floor, and our fast pace is going to help us a lot this season.”
Collaza finished with seven points, while Chavis and Williams both had four points.
The JV Raiders open their season at home on Tuesday against non-conference Anson High School. Tipoff will follow the JV girls’ game, and is expected to start around 5:15 p.m.
