ROCKINGHAM — A couple of low-scoring quarters for the Richmond Senior High School varsity boys basketball team proved to haunt the Raiders as they opened 2019 with a home loss to Sandhills Athletic Conference opponent Jack Britt High School.
Playing in only their second home game of the season, the Raiders fell to the Buccaneers 42-37. Second-year head coach Donald Pettigrew pointed to his team’s inability to put big numbers up on the board as the primary reason for the team’s first loss of the new year.
“Scoring eight points in the first quarter and four points in the second quarter, we’re not going to beat a lot of teams playing like that,” Pettigrew said in the locker room following the game. “We had a lot of open looks, but we weren’t knocking shots down tonight.”
Both teams struggled out of the gate to put points on the board, as the first six minutes only saw three points scored by each team. In the final two minutes of the opening frame, however, Jack Britt rolled out to a 10-5 lead, but a deep three from the top of the key by senior shooting guard Rod Newton pulled the Raiders within two, 10-8.
The second quarter didn’t fare any better for the Raiders, as two field goals, one by senior forward Xavier Pettigrew and another by junior guard Quamir Sivels, were the only two baskets for the home team.
Jack Britt’s Calvin Washington tallied all six of his points in the frame, slamming home a putback dunk with three seconds before the halftime buzzer. At the intermission, the Raiders trailed 20-12, and the 12 points served as a season-low in points in a half.
Out of the break, Richmond had its best scoring quarter of the night, as it dropped 16 points in the third stanza. An 11-0 run by the Raiders over a 1:25 span tied the game at 25. During that stretch Newton hit another three-pointer, while junior center Jarvis Tillman struck from downtown as well.
Sophomore Nygie Stroman hit a basket under the hoop on an assist from Caleb Hood, and fellow sophomore Patrick McLaughlin ended the run with a drive in the paint, completing the three-point play with a made and-one opportunity.
The tie was short lived, as a baseline drive by Jack Britt’s Branden Hayden with just over a minute left gave the Bucs a 29-27 advantage, and would give the visiting team a lead it wouldn’t surrender the rest of the way.
In the fourth quarter, the Raiders made it interesting by coming within four points twice, but turnovers and the inability to connect on shots forced them to foul. Kean Keys came up big for the Bucs in the closing minutes, as he connected on three of his six fourth-quarter free throw attempts.
Keys led all scorers with 12 points, while Newton posted a Raider best 11 points. Hood added seven points for Richmond, while McLaughlin finished the game with six points.
“At times, it was a defensive battle,” Pettigrew noted. “But we were also in the wrong spots at times, too. We can’t forget how to make a defensive stand — we need to be tuned in and we weren’t today.
“We’re going to have to do some soul searching,” he concluded. “And I have to do a better job at putting guys in better situations as the coach. But we’re going to keep grinding — there’s no quit in us.”
Richmond (5-7, 0-3 SAC) will host Hoke County High School (7-4, 1-2 SAC) on Tuesday, Jan. 8, as the Raiders look to rebound and win their first SAC game of the season. The game will begin around 7:30 p.m. following the Lady Raiders’ game.
Note: In junior varsity action, the Raiders also fell to the Buccaneers, 55-54. The road loss now gives head coach Tony Terry’s team a 2-4 overall record on the season. Sophomore Dylan Lewis led the team with 14 points, while fellow sophomores Jakolbe Baldwin and Dalton Stroman finished with 12 and 10 points, respectively.
