ROCKINGHAM – Xavier Pettigrew, a senior on the Richmond Senior High School boys basketball team, has been named the Official Richmond County Male Athlete of the Week.
In his second season as a member of the Raider varsity basketball team, Pettigrew used the two holiday tournaments over Christmas break to find his stride. His play in the post helped the Raiders and head coach Donald Pettigrew win the Anson County Shootout, while he also earned second-team all-tournament honors at the Ashbrook Holiday Hoopfest. This is Pettigrew’s second career Official Richmond County Male Athlete of the Week selection.
Athletic Profile
Age: 17
Birthday: March 19, 2001
Year: Senior
Winter Sport: Basketball
Position: Power Forward
Years on Varsity: 2 years
Height & Weight: 6-4, 196-pounds
Experience: 8 years
“POSTING UP THE FACTS” WITH XAVIER PETTIGREW
RSHS Academics: Final exams for the first semester are set to begin a week from Thursday, and Pettigrew is wrapping up the first half of his senior campaign. He’s currently taking Spanish I with Esther Salas, English IV with Tiffany Covington, College II Essentials Math with Karen Graves and Law and Justice I with Wendall Sessoms.
Pettigrew is enrolled in the Criminal Justice and College Preparatory cluster at Richmond, and currently holds a 2.50 GPA.
“English is my favorite class because I just really like what we do in there,” he commented. “I like Ms. Covington because she’s fun and helps me express how I feel. She does a good job at helping me get my work done.”
This is Pettigrew’s second year at Richmond, as he transferred from Temple Christian School following his sophomore year. Since joining the Raider student body, he expressed he likes “the bigger variety of teachers and classmates to socialize with” and said he likes “meeting new people.”
RSHS Sports: A single-sport athlete, Pettigrew looks forward to putting all of his time and energy into basketball season. With the Raiders’ season roughly a halfway over, he said the team has a renewed sense following the successful holiday tournaments.
“We started off slow,” Pettigrew admitted. “But now we’re starting to pick things up with the two tournaments over break. It’s the start of a new year, and I think we’ll be a different team and will be more aggressive.
“This year’s team has a tighter bond,” he added. “The younger guys really look up to us as seniors and we’re trying to lead by example. Practice is a lot more fun right now — we all come in smiling and ready to work. We just need to keep winning — we got our face back now.”
College Aspirations: Pettigrew hopes to attend college and receive an undergraduate degree and his teaching certificate in social studies. When asked why he wants to become a teacher, he explained he “loves being around kids and wants to have an impact on them.”
He also has the possibility of playing college basketball going for him. Since the summer league season, he’s had Fayetteville State University, Davidson County Community College and Sandhills Community College express interest in having him play. Joining the list this past weekend at the Ashbrook Holiday Hoopfest was Catawba Valley Community College.
“I don’t have a preference yet where I want to play,” Pettigrew said. “But it feels good to have opportunity to play college ball and continue to play the sport I love. I want to take my skills to another level.”
Xavier Pettigrew (30) attempts a shot during a game earlier this season against Reagan.
Athlete of the Week Stats: Heading into Christmas break, the Raiders had won only one of their first six games of the season. But a 2-0 sweep in the Anson County Shootout, coupled with a 2-1 showing at the Ashbrook Holiday Hoopfest, put the Raiders just a game under the .500 mark with 12 games remaining on the schedule.
Pettigrew served a big part in the 4-1 run through the two tournaments. Since getting healthy from a lower body injury earlier in the season, Pettigrew has averaged 12.8 points over the last five games, including a team-high 21 points against Berry Academy in the second round of the Holiday Hoopfest. That game, which went to double overtime, saw Pettigrew drop eight of his 21 points in the fourth quarter to help earn the win.
Although the Raiders finished in fifth place at the Holiday Hoopfest, Pettigrew averaged 13 points a game over the three-day tournament. That was good enough to see him named to the five-man second-team all-tournament squad.
“Getting named to the all-tournament team showed me all of my hard work pays off,” Pettigrew commented. “But it was a team effort. If we didn’t get the good passes, steals or rebounds, I wouldn’t be all-tournament. My team really helped me.”
RAPID FIRE – FAST RESPONSES
1) What’s been the key to your and the team’s turnaround over the holiday break?
“Right now we are more relaxed,” Pettigrew shared. “We’re learning to let the game come to us instead of rushing things. We’re slowing the game down and running plays until we get the best option.”
2) Describe what it’s like playing for your dad as head coach.
“His success is my success, and my success is his success,” he smiled when asked about what it’s like playing for his dad, Donald Pettigrew. “We’re both playing for the same goal, which is to win the conference and go to the state playoffs. There’s some pressure on me — I want to make him proud.”
3) Who is someone who has impacted your life positively such as a mentor, teacher or coach?
“My Pops,” Pettigrew said of his dad. “He’s always smiling, and everybody always tells me great things about him. He’s been a great coach and he stays around the game. I really look up to him.”
4) If you could accomplish one goal this season as a senior, what would it be and why?
“I really want to go to the state championship,” Pettigrew said. “I want to have that feeling of being there and winning it. I’ve never felt that before, and I’ve heard people talk about it and I want to get there and win it all.”
5) Name an interesting fact about yourself that many people may not know about you.
“I’ve got a pet turtle named Shelby,” he concluded. “Not too many people have a turtle for a pet, and a lot of people are surprised when I tell them I have one.”
The Raiders will be back in action for the first time in 2019 when they host Jack Britt High School on Friday, Jan. 4, at 7:30 p.m.
