Raiders upset Pirates
LUMBERTON – When the Richmond Senior High School varsity basketball team travelled to Lumberton on Friday evening, it appeared to be your typical David vs. Goliath matchup – at least on paper.
The Raiders entered the game 5-8 overall and 0-4 in Sandhills Athletic Conference play. Lumberton, on the other hand, had double-digits in the win column and had just handed Pinecrest their first conference loss of the season just three nights earlier. However, Richmond absolutely dominated the heavily favored Pirates for three of the four quarters to cruise to a 78-65 victory on the road.
The game started like most expected it to. After Lumberton’s Jordan McNeill hit one of two free throws with 3:01 remaining in the first quarter, the Pirates were in control with an early 12-3 lead – their largest lead of the game.
Alex Quick quickly answered for Richmond. First, he hauled in the rebound on a Lumberton miss, dribbled the length of the floor, split two defenders, and dropped in a floater. Then moments later, he was found open on the left wing and he made the Pirates pay with a big three-pointer.
Xavier Pettigrew tacked on a jumper from just behind the free throw line helping Richmond to end the quarter on a 7-4 run cutting the Pirate lead to 16-10 after one complete.
From that point on, Richmond used its speed to catch up to and run past the Pirates. CJ McCray’s bank shot just eight seconds into the second quarter extended the Pirate lead to eight points, but Pettigrew and Quick scored 13 of the game’s next 15 points which gave the Raiders their first lead at 23-20 with 5:10 remaining in the first half.
A couple of McNeill free throws temporarily stopped the bleeding for Lumberton, cutting the Raider lead to one, but Quick answered with another three-ball followed by a steal and dunk by Jarvis Tillman just seconds later.
Lumberton put together a short run to regain the lead at 30-28 with just over a minute remaining, but that’s the last time that the Pirates would be on the high side of the scoreboard. The Raiders put together a 10-2 run to close out the half and went to the break ahead 38-32.
Caleb Hood got things started for the Raiders in the second half. Just 15 seconds in, he managed to dribble past a defender, powered into the lane, and banked one in off the high glass. Moments later, he grabbed the rebound on a Pirate miss, took it the length of the court, drove into the paint, and pitched it out to his brother, Kellan Hood, who was hanging out on the right wing. Kellan Hood’s three-point attempt was true and the Raiders had their first double-digit lead at 43-32.
The two teams traded baskets throughout the remainder of the third quarter sending the Raiders into the final period with an unexpected 10-point lead at 54-44.
A three-pointer for Lumberton’s Kwashek Breeden followed by a two ball from Braylan Grice cut Richmond’s lead to five at the start of the fourth quarter, but Richmond’s Nygie Stroman was not about to allow the Pirates to steal this one away.
Stroman scored 12 points in a 16-10 Richmond run that put the Raiders up 70-54 with only 2:56 left in the game. From there, the Raiders held on to win, never allowing the Pirates closer than 12 points.
Quick led the Raiders with 19 points, followed by Pettigrew with 18, Stroman scored 14, Tillman netted nine, Patrick McLaughlin and Caleb Hood each had five, Kellan Hood and Roderick Newton each finished with three, and Quamir Sivels added two.
Richmond (6-8, 1-4 SAC) will be on the road on Tuesday to face a tough Seventy-First team (12-1, 4-1 SAC). The Falcons’ only loss this season was an 83-82 overtime defeat at the hands of Pinecrest.
Lady Raider rally falls short
LUMBERTON – The Lady Pirates have been extremely stingy on defense this season allowing an average of only 32 points per game. In the four games they had lost coming into Friday night’s meeting with Richmond, their opponent’s had to counter by having a big defensive game of their own and limiting the Lady Pirates to 41 points or less.
When Lumberton entered halftime on Friday with 34 points already on the scoreboard and leading by 19, chances of a Lady Raider victory were slim. Despite a valiant effort in the third quarter and the opening moments of the fourth, Richmond’s comeback bid fell short and the Lady Raiders suffered a 64-46 road loss.
Richmond managed to outscore the Lady Pirates 18-10 and trailed only by eleven at 44-33 heading into the game’s final 8 minutes. The Lady Raiders outscored Lumberton 11-5 in the first five minutes of the fourth quarter slowly whittling their 19-point halftime deficit to just five at 49-44 with only three minutes left to play.
However, a couple of well-timed three-point shots, some clutch free throws, and a strong defensive stand allowed Lumberton to pull away at the end with a 16-2 run.
Allyiah Swiney was the leading scorer for the Lady Raiders in the loss with 14 points, while her sister Allexis Swiney followed with 10 points.
Richmond drops to 7-7 overall and 3-2 in Sandhills Athletic Conference play. Next up for the Lady Raiders is a road trip to Seventy-First High School (7-5, 3-2 SAC) for a pivotal conference position game. The two teams are currently tied for third place in the conference.
