CHAPEL HILL — A season personified by the mantra “run it back” has seen the Richmond Raider basketball team land in a similar spot to its state runner-up performance last winter.
The North Carolina High School Athletic Association released its final playoff brackets around 3:30 p.m. Saturday and Richmond received the No. 2 seed in the 4A East bracket.
It’s the same seeding the Raiders had in 2022-23, which saw the program battle through the 4A East and earn its first regional title since the 1996-97 season.
Now the road to Winston-Salem and the hopeful return trip to the NCHSAA 4A state title game begins Tuesday with the opening round of the playoffs.
The Raiders will have home-court advantage throughout the entire playoffs, with the exception of the regional and state championship rounds, should they advance that far.
Taking the No. 1 seed in the 4A East for the second consecutive postseason was New Hanover High School (27-0). Last season, New Hanover lost in the fourth round to Holly Springs High School, which Richmond defeated in the regional championship.
“We always talk about wanting to get the No. 1 or No. 2 seed,” seventh-year head coach Donald Pettigrew said. “The guys have worked hard all season to get that home-court advantage, which is great, and our strength of schedule really helped us a lot.
“No matter what seed we get, we’ll always have a target on our shoulders because of the Richmond name and our tradition,” he added. “We’re just going to continue to do what we do and do what we can control. Everyone has the same goal to win a state championship, we just have to stick to our game.”
Following the heartbreak of a 74-60 loss to Myers Park High School, which is the No. 1 seed in the 4A West this winter, in last year’s state championship game, the Raiders and Pettigrew never doubted they’d get another opportunity to make a run at state.
That 14-point differential often lit up the scoreboard during Richmond’s practices, a reminder of what had happened and motivation for what can still be accomplished.
Months of offseason training and an infusion of personnel depth to complement a core group of senior veterans, was only amplified by a tough regular-season schedule.
All of that, combined with another year of experience, is what Pettigrew believes will fuel the Raiders’ first successful run at a hopeful state title in mid March.
“We want to run it back,” Pettigrew said. “That’s what we’ve been talking about doing all season. That’s been our expectation and we want to kick that door down and win our first state championship.
“This year’s team is another year more experienced,” he continued. “A lot of our guys have been with us on deep playoff runs the last two years, and they’ve been playing together for an even longer time. We’ve been preparing for longer than just this season and the last three years have helped us a lot.”
The Raiders are led by senior wing Paul McNeil Jr., an N.C. State signee, who is averaging 31.3 points per game and 8.96 rebounds per game. His scoring is ranked first in the 4A East ahead of Colt Langdon of Millbrook High School (27.1 PPG).
In the 4A East, McNeil Jr. is ranked first in field goals (262) and three-pointers made (86), second in free throws made (142), tied for fifth in double-doubles (9), seventh in assists (4.7) and steals (2.8) and eighth in rebounds.
Flanking McNeil Jr. are senior guards Javian Drake (15.4 PPG) and Jamarion Wall (13.4 PPG). Wall leads the team in three-pointer percentage (43%) and Drake is tied for fifth in the 4A East with 4.9 assists per game and tied for seventh with 2.6 steals per game.
Other key contributors have been junior Ahaiver McDonald (6.7 PPG) and senior Braylon Barfield (5.0 PPG, 7.6 RPG). Defensively, junior Keyonta Davis and sophomore Jayden Hamilton help with the press.
For the second straight season, the Raiders made a perfect sweep through regular-season Sandhills Athletic Conference play, earning a 12-0 record, only the second undefeated conference slate in the program’s 52 seasons.
Checking another box on its way to the postseason, top-seeded Richmond made quick work in the SAC tournament against No. 4 Pinecrest and No. 2 Southern Lee to three-peat as the tournament champions.
Friday’s sweep marked just the third time in program history the Raiders won the regular-season title outright, followed by the tournament crown.
Riding a season-long 14-game winning streak heading into the playoff opener against East Chapel Hill, the Raiders have notched seven victories this season of 40+ points this winter.
Averaging 80.5 points per game this season, which is 2.4 PPG more than entering the playoffs last season, Richmond has also won 11 games by 30+ points.
In their 21 wins this season, the team is winning by an average of 29.7 points per game. Richmond’s largest wins were 66 points (Lee County), 52 points (Lee County) and 50 points (Hoke County).
Richmond’s five losses, three more than at the start of the 2022-23 postseason, actually helped the team in the playoff seeding due to their opponents’ winning percentage (OWP), which is part of the NCHSAA’s ratings percentage index formula.
Ranked second in the NCHSAA’s final RPI, the Raiders’ finished with a final tally of 0.6648. Their winning percentage was 0.800, but it was their OWP of 0.6453 that allowed them to jump ahead of four teams with better winning percentages.
Richmond lost to Myers Park, John Marshall (Va.), Grovetown (Ga.), Northwood and Cannon high schools this season.
“Our strength of schedule made us play a lot of tough competition, teams like we’re going to see in the playoffs,” Pettigrew explained. “We wanted to play teams with lots of length and bigger guys so we could be battle tested.
“All season we’ve been able to see where we’re at, and facing other tough teams has helped us a lot,” he continued. “Our guys are going to be ready to play. I always say this is the best time of the year, and now is when we want to play our best basketball.”
East Chapel Hill, which is coached by Kennard Winchester, recorded a 10-15 record this season. The Wildcats placed fifth in the DC 6 Conference and enter the playoffs on a two-game skid.
East Chapel Hill averaged 49.2 points per game and is led in scoring by senior guard Isaiah Styron (13.9 PPG).
Though it will be the first time the Raiders will face East Chapel Hill in a game, the two teams scrimmaged earlier in the fall.
“We scrimmaged them at Southern Lee and they have nice size and guys who can shoot,” Pettigrew noted.
“But come this time of year, everybody’s record is 0-0. The first game is more important than any other game, so we have to come ready and be focused (on East Chapel Hill). It’s time to win and advance.”
To win the program’s first state championship, Pettigrew said it comes down to the fundamentals.
“We need to continue to get better on the defensive end, and our rebounding has to improve,” he shared. “Offensively, we’ll score, so we have to pick it up in other places.
“We need to make stops when we need them, and our reserve guys need to be ready to do positive things,” Pettigrew closed. “If we can continue moving the ball and make better decisions down the stretch, we’ll be good.”
The No. 2 Raiders (21-5) will host No. 31 East Chapel Hill (10-15) Tuesday for the first round of the NCHSAA 4A state playoffs. Action will begin at 7:30 p.m. after the Lady Raiders’ playoff game.
Sports editor’s note: This article was updated at 2:20 p.m. 02/25/24 to include the game’s start time.
