PEMBROKE — Keeping another one of the host schools out of the championship game, the Richmond Senior High School boys’ basketball team kept its bid alive for a Robeson County Shootout title Friday.
On the road at Purnell Swett High School in the semifinal round, the Raiders easily disposed of the Rams 66-45.
Winning their second straight game after dropping their previous two games, the Raiders held the lead for the whole game save for a few early ties in the first quarter. Richmond played with a double-digit cushion the entire second half.
Helping move Richmond to the championship game was junior point guard Chance Crowder. He finished the night with a single-game career-high 26 points. Crowder had 13 points in both halves and didn’t play the fourth quarter.
Sophomore Donovan Jones scored 12 points, including 10 points in the first half. Sophomore Kerick Hairston Jr. and freshman Cam’ron Coley each had eight points.
Three others scored four points apiece in the win for Richmond — senior Amer Morrison, junior Bryan Hinson Jr. and sophomore Devin Haynes.
Head coach Donald Pettigrew stressed the importance of a faster start against the Rams, something the team has struggled with in its first seven games prior to Friday’s matchup.
Pettigrew said the effort was better on offense early, and added that the team’s pressure on defense, especially in the middle quarters, is what swung the momentum in Richmond’s favor.
A quicker-tempoed first quarter by the Raiders led to a 15-12 lead.
Crowder and Jones did all of the scoring for Richmond. Scoring the team’s first three points on a free throw and a jumper was Crowder, which was followed by back-to-back three-pointers by Jones from opposite wings.
Two free throws from Jones, the final of his eight points in the opening stanza, made it 11-6. Crowder later connected on a triple to keep the Raiders ahead 14-9.
After a three by the Rams (3-6), a scoring drought by both teams ran out the final 3:42 of the quarter. Fouled on a shot at the buzzer, Crowder made a free throw to maintain a three-point lead.
Using a 15-3 scoring stretch through the opening four minutes of the second quarter, Richmond opened its lead to as many as 15 points, 30-15.
Pushing their defense, the Raiders forced several turnovers by the Rams and scored easy transition points.
Coley scored the first two of his six points in the second under the basket to start the quarter, and followed with another close-range shot to maintain a 19-15 lead.
Hinson Jr. knocked down a pair of free throws and Coley turned a steal at mid-court into two transition points on a layup. Crowder’s first of six points before the break resulted in a 25-15 lead and a timeout called by the Rams.
Answering out of the break, Hairston Jr. made a triple from the right corner and Jones made it a 15-point lead, 30-15, with a drive through the paint on the next possession.
Purnell Swett went on a five-point run, but two free throws and a drive from Crowder, along with a transition bucket by Hinson Jr. in the final two minutes, preserved a 36-23 lead at the break.
Richmond started the third quarter similarly to the way it began the second, widening its lead thanks to a 14-3 run.
Crowder had 10 of those 14 points, starting with a drive. He then drained two triples from in front of the Raiders’ bench, two of his team-high four triples in the game, and made a jumper in the elbow.
Adding to the run to make it 50-26 was Morrison, who kissed the glass on a pair of transition baskets.
Jones scored his final two points in the game with 3:03 on the third-quarter clock. Extending the lead to 57-33 at the end of the third were a Hairston Jr. drive and Crowder’s final three-ball from the right wing.
Pettigrew opted to play his reserves for the whole fourth quarter, which saw Richmond outscored 12-9. He said it was a good opportunity to give those players a chance to run the Raiders’ sets.
Hairston Jr. made his second three-pointer and Coley returned his own rebound in the first couple of minutes of the quarter to give Richmond its largest lead of the game (27 points).
Haynes netted his first varsity points on a floater and a transition inside the final minute.
The Raiders (6-2) will face Lumberton High School (8-2) in the RobCo Shootout championship game Saturday. The game will be played at UNC Pembroke and start at 8 p.m.
