ROCKINGHAM — There will be no down time this summer for the Richmond Senior High School boys’ basketball program.
Coming off an impressive fourth-round playoff run and winning the Sandhills Athletic Conference title this past winter, the Raiders will kick start their busy summer slate with a home jamboree.
Head coach Donald Pettigrew, who will be entering his sixth season at the helm of the program, released the information for the Richmond Raiders Basketball Jamboree this week.
Scheduled for Monday, June 13 and Tuesday, June 14, the summer showcase will feature 18 different schools from around the state and South Carolina.
Monday’s teams will be Apex, Chesterfield, Forest Hills, Gray’s Creek, Hickory Ridge, New Life Chrisitan Academy, Porter Ridge, Providence Grove, Red Springs, Scotland and South Granville.
The second day of the tournament will add other teams, including Fairmont, Pine Forest, South Garner, Southern Lee, St. Pauls and Union Pines. Day one will feature 18 games, while Tuesday’s slate will have 24 scrimmages.
Games will be played at Richmond, as well as Richmond County Ninth Grade Academy. Monday’s games will begin at noon, while Tuesday’s schedule will kick off at 10 a.m. at RCNGA.
“We’ve done this jamboree every year since my first year,” Pettigrew said. “We are just trying to get guys better and help the ones who are in between varsity and JV. It allows us as coaches to see how everyone competes against quality teams and how much they’ve developed since last year.
“This is the biggest tournament we’ve hosted, and that’s really great for everyone. There will be a lot of really good basketball played and this will give us a chance to see a lot of different teams and styles that will help us for the upcoming season.”
The Raiders are scheduled to play Porter Ridge (12 p.m.), Gray’s Creek (2:30 p.m.) and South Granville (5 p.m.) on Monday, followed by Hickory Ridge (12 p.m.), South Garner (3:20 p.m.) and Pine Forest (6 p.m.) during Tuesday’s action.
All games will feature two 20-minute halves with a running clock. The clock will stop inside the final two minutes of each half, and teams will be awarded four 30-second timeouts each game.
Scoring will be kept using two and three-point shots, and shooters must attempt all free throws.
Throughout the summer, Richmond will have two squads on the court — a varsity team of rising seniors and juniors, and a junior varsity team of rising freshmen and sophomores.
The Raiders Basketball Jamboree is just the first of many summer tournaments for Pettigrew and the program. He said the Raiders will play close to 30 games and use the summer slate as a way to better develop varsity and junior varsity players.
Following the home event, the Raiders will play in a three-day Rise D-I camp at Julius Chambers High School from June 17-19. Pettigrew said roughly 300 college coaches from around the country will be in attendance.
The week of June 20, Richmond will play in jamborees at Chesterfield and Gray’s Creek high schools. That will be followed by the East Coast Invitational in Jacksonville from June 23-26 and conclude with a two-day event at Forest Hills High School on June 28 and 29.
“The summer is all about getting the guys better at playing at the varsity level and building chemistry in our program,” Pettigrew closed.
Open to the public, admission to Monday and Tuesday’s home tournament will be $5 a person and go toward the basketball team’s overall fund.
