ROCKINGHAM — Earlier in the week, senior point guard Javian Drake said if the Richmond Raider basketball team stuck to its style of play, then Friday’s second round playoff game would end in a victory.
Drake, who dropped 27 points in the game, was right.
Punching their ticket to at least the third round of the 4A East playoffs for the third straight season, the No. 2 Raiders pulled away in the second half with a 94-68 win over No. 15 Riverside-Durham High School.
Sticking to their game, the Raiders methodically chipped away at the Pirates with a suffocating defense and a wealth of scoring.
Ten players found the basket in the win, led by senior wing Paul McNeil Jr.’s 35 points. Also reaching double-digits were Drake and senior shooting guard Jamarion Wall (11 points).
Other scorers were senior Braylon Barfield (5 points), junior Ahaiver McDonald (4 points), senior David McNair and junior Davion Ingram (3 points each) and juniors Keidreion Crump, Keyonta Davis and sophomore Jayden Hamilton (all with 2 points).
As a team, Richmond netted 36-of-66 from the field (54.5%), including 12-for-29 from three-point land (41.4%). McNeil Jr. made 13-of-22 (59%) with two triples and Drake finished 10-of-17 (58.8%) with a team-high five three-balls.
Paul McNeil Jr. (2) lays in two of his 12 points in the second quarter. (Kyle Pillar/The Richmond Observer)
The Raiders led by as many as nine points, 19-10, in the first quarter, but a 9-2 run by the Pirates in the final 2:40 made it a two-point lead, 21-19.
Barfield opened and closed Richmond’s first-quarter scoring, starting with an offensive rebound putback before adding a two-handed jam in the final 30 seconds.
McNeil Jr. (nine points) and Drake (eight points) recorded the rest of the early scoring. McNeil Jr. cut into an early deficit with a drive for his first two points, and Drake followed with two free throws and his first triple from the top.
Leading 9-7, McNeil Jr. scored Richmond’s next five points on a three-pointer and two free throws after a technical foul was issued to Riverside-Durham.
Drake followed that with his second trey of the first quarter and a McNeil Jr. jumper from the left corner in front of his future college coach Kevin Keatts put Richmond ahead 19-10.
Richmond regained a double-digit lead in the second quarter, leading by as many as 11 points. Riverside-Durham kept pace, however, and entered the locker room down 46-40.
McNeil Jr. netted Richmond’s first 10 points of the second on a three-pointer, a deep jumper, an old-fashioned three-point play and drive through the paint.
Muscling his way through traffic, Drake scored a bucket to put Richmond uo 33-22 with 5:06 to go.
In the closing four minutes, McNair splashed down a three-pointer from the left side, with Drake and McNeil Jr. each adding two more points.
Davis scored his bucket on a tip at the net and McDonald helped keep the lead with a jumper and a shot off the glass.
Braylon Barfiled blocks a shot during Friday’s second round playoff win. (Kyle Pillar/The Richmond Observer)
A 16-2 scoring run by Richmond through the first half of the third quarter distanced the Raiders for good.
Drake scored a pair of triples and a jumper during the run for eight of his 10 points in the third. Barfield capped his scoring with a free throw, with McNeil Jr. adding four points in the paint.
Wall joined the scoring with the first of his three second-half three-pointers to make it a 62-42 lead.
Still leading by a large margin, Richmond used five more points from Wall (triple, drive) in the closing two minutes of the quarter. McNeil Jr. finished an and-one opportunity and Drake chipped in a field goal.
Up 72-50 to start the final eight minutes, five Raiders found the hoop to secure the victory.
Richmond’s largest lead of the game was 31 points, which came after McNeil Jr. rounded out his final seven points on three free throws after a foul beyond the arc.
Drake, Ingram and Wall each connected on one three-pointer apiece, as Crump, Drake and Hamilton all scored a bucket.
Corey Harrison led the Pirates (18-10) with 23 points. Robert McDonald had 13 points and Mehki Sneed scored 12 points in the season-ending loss.
The No. 2 Raiders will get another home playoff game Tuesday against No. 7 Cardinal Gibbons High School (18-7).
The third round of the NCHSAA 4A East playoffs will be played Tuesday at a time yet to be decided at the time of publication.
The Crusaders eliminated No. 10 Overhills High School 77-46 in the second round Friday.
The Richmond Observer will publish a gallery of Friday’s second-round playoff win soon.
Sports editor’s note: Unofficial statistics provided by assistant coach Keith Parsons.
