ROCKINGHAM — Going straight from the football playoffs to the hardwood, a member of the Richmond Senior High School boys’ basketball team helps kick off the winter sports season edition of The Richmond Observer’s weekly series.
Senior shooting guard Jayden Hamilton, a four-year member of the varsity basketball team, is the Official Richmond County Male Student-Athlete of the Week sponsored by Mabry’s Drug & Home Care.
Earning his third career selection, Hamilton helped the Raiders off to a 2-0 start in their first week of action. Despite a lingering injury from football, he led the team in scoring both times while also netting a new single-game career-high.
Athletic Profile: Jayden Hamilton
Year: Senior
Winter sport: Basketball
Position: Shooting Guard
Varsity experience: 4 Seasons
Other sports: Football, Track and Field
“CLASSROOM CREDITS” WITH JAYDEN HAMILTON
Considered by many of his coaches and teachers as a shining example of the term “student-athlete,” Hamilton is among the top students in his graduating class, all while managing playing sports year round.
Like his female counterpart this week, senior basketball player Jasiah Gilchrist, Hamilton is getting ahead of the game by taking college courses thanks to Richmond’s partnership with Richmond Community College.
This semester, Hamilton is taking one dual enrollment course at RichmondCC — Sociology 210. Next semester he’ll add two more college-level classes to his course load — Art 111 and English 111.
Excelling in his three classes at Richmond this fall, Hamilton made the A honor roll during the first nine-weeks and is on pace to do the same as the first semester draws to a close. The classes he’s taking now are English IV Honors, Senior Senate and Weight Training Honors.
In the spring, Hamilton will round out his required high school credits by taking Chemistry Honors and Economics and Personal Finance Honors.
Currently, Hamilton is ranked 43rd in his graduating class, placing him in the top 10% of students. He’s got a 4.13 weighted grade point average that he anticipates will rise after the semester ends.
“CAREER-HIGH” WITH JAYDEN HAMILTON
The Richmond boys’ basketball team started its season last week with a pair of non-conference wins over Southern Lee and Westover high schools. With little time separating his All-Conference efforts on the gridiron, Hamilton made a smooth transition to the court.
In a 66-61 win over the Cavaliers to start the season, Hamilton dropped a single-game career-high 31 points, nearly half of Richmond’s total offensive output.
Hamilton shot 12-of-23 from the floor (52%), which included a 6-for-13 effort from three-point land (46%). Grabbing five rebounds, he also made three steals.
Scoring 12 points in the first half, Hamilton led a comeback effort in the second half. He started the third quarter with a triple before knocking down five field goals to cut Richmond’s deficit to 44-43 to start the final quarter.
Down the stretch, Hamilton rattled in his final two three-pointers as part of a 23-17 run by the Raiders in the fourth to earn the win.
Three nights later, Richmond defeated Westover 72-61 and Hamilton scored a team-high 17 points.
Bringing his average scoring to 24.0 points per game, Hamilton netted four first-half field goals and scored three three-pointers in the second half. In the closing minutes, he sank a pair of free throws to help distance the team for good.
The Raiders (2-0) will look to keep their strong start going with a three-game week this week. First is a non-conference road game at Scotland High School (3-0) Tuesday at 7:30 p.m.
“RAPID RESPONSE” VIDEO WITH JAYDEN HAMILTON
The Richmond Observer will publish two more Official Richmond County Student-Athletes of the Week next week.
Sports editor’s note: Final game statistics from Friday’s win, other than points, were not available at the time of publication.
