SOUTHERN PINES – When the Richmond basketball teams travelled to Pinecrest High School on Friday, it was a clear set of David and Goliath matchups.
The Raiders entered the night with a 1-3 record and 0-1 in the Sandhills Athletic Conference. The Lady Raiders were doing a little better carrying in a 4-2 overall record and were 1-0 in conference play. However, both the Patriots and Lady Patriots were undefeated with records of 6-0 and 7-0, respectively.
One would think that both of these games would be over quickly, but the Raiders and Lady Raiders never backed down and kept both games close until the final minute. Unfortunately, both upset bids came up just a little short, as the Raiders fell to the Patriots 48-41 and the Lady Raiders lost a 47-43 decision to Pinecrest.
The boys’ game featured the same story over and over. Pinecrest would go on a run, and then the Raiders would catch up. After trailing by as many as eight points in the first quarter (16-8), Richmond managed to fight their way back into the game by halftime and even took a 24-23 lead into the break. The two teams simply traded baskets in the third quarter, with the fourth starting in a 30-30 tie.
Pinecrest scored the first six points on the fourth quarter. A layup by Raider senior Alex Quick temporarily stalled the Patriot run, but then Pinecrest scored the next five on a 3-pointer by Caleb Garges and two free throws by Clayton Coe. Just like that, the Patriots had tied their largest lead of the game at eight points (41-32) with only two and-a-half minutes left in the game.
Seconds later, Richmond’s Roderick Newton answered with a three ball from the corner to bring the Raiders to within five points. With the clock ticking away, the Raiders were forced to foul from that point on, but the Patriots connected on 7-of-10 from the free throw line to keep their five-point lead intact for the win.
The leading scorers for the Raiders were Xavier Pettigrew with nine points, while Newton and Alex Quick each netted eight more.
Just like the boys’ game, the Lady Raiders and Lady Patriots were all knotted up (28-28) heading into the fourth quarter. Also like the boys’, the game was won at the free throw line.
With just 20.3 seconds left in the game, Richmond and Pinecrest each had 40 points on the scoreboard. From there, Pinecrest’s Keayna McLaughlin connected on seven of eight attempts from the free throw line, a feat that the Lady Raiders were unable to match leading to the 47-43 defeat.
McLaughlin was the game’s leading scorer at 22 points. The Lady Raiders were much more balanced in their scoring. Freshman Allyiah Swiney led Richmond with 12 points, Jakerra Covington netted 10, Jayla McDougald and Allexis Swiney each scored eight, and Taliah Wall finished with five points.
The Raiders and Lady Raiders will step outside of conference play when they host Reagan on Monday night. The Lady Raiders begin at 6 p.m. followed by the boys’ game.
