ROCKINGHAM — Never hitting the panic button Friday, the Richmond Senior High School boys’ basketball team erased a 10-point second-half deficit to keep its winning streak alive.
The poise of three players — seniors Keyonta Davis and Ahaiver McDonald, along with junior Jayden Hamilton — combined for the majority of the Raiders’ fourth-quarter points in a comeback victory over Lee County High School.
Winning its 12th straight game, Richmond outscored the Yellow Jackets by eight points in the decisive fourth quarter to earn a 69-65 victory.
McDonald netted a game-high 24 points, shooting 10-of-17 from the field, with 20 of his points coming in the first three quarters.
Hamilton finished with 18 points (6-of-10 shooting), including his final 12 points in the closing eight minutes. Pivotal from the line, Hamilton was a perfect 6-for-6 in the game, with all of his free throws coming in the final stanza.
Davis ended the game with eight points, but proved clutch when he scored seven of those points in the fourth, including Richmond’s final two points.
Other contributors for the Raiders were junior Amer Morrison (8 points), sophomore Chance Crowder (6 points), junior Domonic Tillman (4 points) and senior Davion Ingram (1 point).
The first quarter featured a pair of big runs by both teams, ending in a 19-14 lead for the Raiders.
Tillman scored all four of his points in the lane early on, contributing to an 11-5 start by Richmond. McDonald and Hamilton both had a field goal and Crowder connected on the first of his two three-pointers in the quarter.
Lee County answered with a 9-3 stretch that saw the Yellow Jackets take a 14-12 lead. Head coach Donald Pettigrew called a timeout and the Raiders answered with a 7-0 run to end the quarter.
McDonald and Hamilton each scored a field goal to regain the lead and Crowder made a loud three-pointer at the buzzer from the left corner to give the Raiders a five-point advantage.
Trading buckets with the Yellow Jackets in the second quarter, Richmond saw its lead disappear and entered the locker room down 35-33.
McDonald and Morrison accounted for all of the Raiders’ scoring in the second, netting 10 points and four points, respectively. Morrison had the team’s first bucket on a drive and later made a field goal under the hoop on an assist from Hamilton.
Spreading his scoring around, McDonald made a layup off a turnover, a free throw and two putbacks in the paint. His final points came on a three-pointer from the right corner with 2:20 to play, which gave Richmond a 33-31 lead at the time.
Lee County started a 12-0 run that spanned the end of the second quarter and into the first half of the third quarter to take a 43-33 lead. Richmond didn’t score until the 3:26 mark of the third when McDonald collected an offensive board and returned it to the hoop.
That bucket started an 11-5 run to close out the frame, pulling the Raiders within two possessions, 48-44, entering the fourth quarter.
Hamilton and Morrison each had a bucket during that stretch. Ingram, who was big on the boards all game, scored his free throw. McDonald added the final four points in the final 85 seconds of the quarter.
Two free throws from McDonald, a post bucket from Davis and another putback by McDonald started a 12-5 run to open the fourth.
Hamilton scored the first two of his 12 points late on a drive and Morrison gave Richmond a 54-53 lead with 5:14 to go when he finished an athletic baseline drive through traffic.
The run ended when Davis scooped up the basketball following a turnover in Lee County’s defensive end and layed it into the hoop for two easy points.
The first two of Hamilton’s six fourth-quarter free throws made it 58-54, but the Yellow Jackets made a quick run to tie the game.
With 1:54 left in regulation, Ingram collected a rebound and made a pass into the lane to Hamilton, who finished the play and gave Richmond the lead for good.
In the bonus, Richmond benefitted from foul calls against Lee County. Hamilton was good on his next two attempts to make it 62-58 with 1:43 to go.
Closing out the final 1:16 of the game, Davis made three free throws and Hamilton scored four points on a putback and two shots from the line to ice the victory.
Lee County (10-10, 5-4 SAC) had a trio of double-digit scorers in the loss — Jayden Hill (15 points), Nick Farrow (14 points) and MJ Sanders (10 points).
A pivotal matchup for the second-place Raiders (13-7, 8-2 SAC) awaits Monday at home against conference leader Southern Lee High School (18-1, 8-1 SAC).
It will be Richmond’s final regular-season home game, as well as senior night. Tip-off is set for 7:30 p.m.
