SANFORD — Head coach Donald Pettigrew called Richmond’s defensive efforts during its 4A East regional championship victory the “best performance all season.”
Team defense and rebounding were two elements of the game the sixth-year head coach stressed to his players in the three days of practice leading up to Saturday’s game at Lee County High School.
Facing their toughest task during the postseason, the No. 2 Raiders advanced to their first 4A state championship appearance since 1997 with a 69-61 win over No. 5 Holly Springs High School.
Leading by a single point at the end of the second and third quarters, the Raiders used a 16-9 run in the final eight minutes to bring home the East regional title.
A player Pettigrew had a conversation with earlier in the week, telling him “it’s your time,” was junior shooting guard Jamarion Wall.
In that pivotal fourth quarter, Wall drained a trio of triples for nine of his 14 points. The final of those three-pointers proved to be the game-winning shot, putting the Raiders ahead 64-56 win 2:14 left to play.
The Golden Hawks weren’t able to slow down N.C. State commit Paul McNeil Jr., who scored a game-high 30 points and added seven rebounds. During his five postseason games this year, McNeil has scored 30 or more in his last two and at least 20 points in four of them.
Four other Raiders found the basket against what Pettigrew called a “physical” Holly Springs defense. Junior Jullien Cole netted 11 points and collected five boards.
Senior Zion Baldwin and junior Javian Drake each chipped in 6 points, and Baldwin recorded four rebounds. Senior Dakota Chavis also grabbed four boards and scored two points.
Sticking with their style of play, the Raiders used a fast start to take an 8-2 lead into the first-quarter media timeout (3:24). McNeil Jr. and Baldwin alternated baskets from inside the paint to start with four points apiece.
Richmond would lead by as many as nine points in the first, carrying a 15-6 lead into the second. McNeil Jr. added to the lead with the first of his five three-pointers.
Cole got his scoring started with a free throw and McNeil Jr. beat the buzzer with a deep triple. Baldwin had two timely blocks in the first to help keep the Golden Hawks’ scoring low.
Holly Springs (26-6) answered with an 11-2 run to start the second, tying the game at 17 points. Scoring those two points for RIchmond was McNeil Jr. on a drive.
Breaking the tie, McNeil Jr. splashed down another three-ball with 5:37 left in the half. Both teams traded baskets the rest of the way, leaning in Richmond’s advantage as part of a tight 13-12 scoring stretch.
Drake connected on a pair of baseline jumpers in the final part of the half, maneuvering around a host of defenders with height and reach. Wall and McNeil Jr. connected on a three-pointer apiece from opposite corners to make it 30-29 at the break.
All six Raiders who scored in the win found the basket in the third, which ended in a 53-52 lead for Richmond. Cole, who had seven points in the third, got warmed up with a pair of shots from the line for the first points from either team.
A 5-0 run by Holly Springs gave the Golden Hawks a short two-point lead, but a McNeil jumper knotted the score at 34 points.
Two free throws by Holly Springs changed the lead again, but McNeil Jr. took charge with a three-pointer from the left wing to give the Raiders the advantage.
The back-and-forth play continued with Cole finding the basket from underneath, but the Golden Hawks scored nine of the next 12 points to take a 45-42 lead. Cole’s first of two second-half triples accounted for the other points during that time.
Chavis’ two points proved pivotal, as he sank a pair of free throws to cut Richmond’s deficit to one point.
That started an 11-7 Richmond scoring run that was accompanied by a Wall tip-in, an old-fashioned three-point play from McNeil Jr. and a bucket each from Baldwin and Drake.
A quick drive to start the fourth by Holly Springs flipped the one-point lead, and Baldwin swatted away another shot inside the first 45 seconds.
Wall clicked into gear and landed the first of his final three triples from the top of the arc with 7:00 to play. He followed that 45 seconds later with another trey, this time from the right corner in front of Richmond’s bench.
Trailing 61-56, Holly Springs called a timeout. The scoring slowed but McNeil Jr. stripped a ball away and raced halfway down the floor of a dunk.
Wall’s eventual game-winning basket came from the right wing and Cole added an insurance triple with just over 90 seconds left. Inside the closing 30 seconds, McNeil Jr. tipped a ball at the rim to round out the scoring.
In their final game of the season, the Golden Hawks were led by Micah Jones’ 22 points. Collin Kuhl scored 18 points and Ryan Crotty had 11 points.
On their way back to Richmond, the Raiders were met by two Richmond County Sheriff’s Office patrol cars at the Richmond-Moore County line for an escort back to campus.
Getting a week to prepare for the 4A state championship game, the Raiders (28-2) will face the 4A West’s top seed Myers Park High School (27-4) on Saturday, March 4.
The East vs. West battle will be the second go-around between the Raiders and Mustangs this season. In the second game of the year, Richmond fell to Myers Park 78-37, a game that didn’t see McNeil Jr. play.
Myers Park earned a 72-51 win over No. 3 North Mecklenburg High School in the 4A West regional title game on Saturday.
Richmond and Myers Park will contend for the state championship hardware at N.C. State’s Reynolds Coliseum. No official start time or ticket information has been announced by the NCHSAA at the time of publication.
The Richmond Observer will continue its postseason coverage of the Raider basketball team throughout the week.
A photo gallery of Saturday’s 4A East regional championship win over Holly Springs will be published shortly.
