ROCKINGHAM – It may have taken a four-minute overtime period and a recovery of two 15-point leads lost, but the Richmond Senior High School Raiders basketball team won its second game in as many nights.
Welcoming in non-conference opponent New Life Christian Academy (Fayetteville, N.C.), the Raiders played a rare Saturday game in which culminated in a 75-72 overtime victory in thrilling fashion.
Fresh off a big Sandhills Athletic Conference win over Jack Britt High School the night before, Richmond (7-12) carried over its momentum to beat a scrappy, eight-man NLCA team (23-10), and scored its most points in a game since Dec. 29, 2017.
But it wasn’t without its ups and downs.
“To have two 15-point leads and lose them shows that their team didn’t quit,” head coach Donald Pettigrew said following the win. “They had a lot of heart tonight. But our guys did good, but they became unfocused. We stopped working for what we wanted.
“I told (the team) that just because we had a big lead, they (NLCA) weren’t going to quit playing,” he continued. “But we kept playing late in the game.”
Following an impressive putback two-handed jam by the Monarchs’ sophomore guard Reggie Raynor, the visiting team jumped out to a quick 9-6 lead in the opening minutes. But Richmond senior guard Carl McNeal, who had his best performance of the season against Jack Britt, hit on back-to-back possessions to give Richmond its first lead of the night 10-9 halfway through the first.
McNeal’s spark of offense would ignite a 10-1 Raider run to close out the first quarter, as the home team maintained a 20-12 lead.
NLCA started the second quarter slow, but did hit its first field goal at the 6:29 mark, making it the first one in 7:56 of play (it had converted five free throws in that span).
Richmond junior guard Alex Quick, who had himself a game-high three three-pointers, answered as he rang his first one home from the top of the arc on a dish from junior teammate Malik Stanback to push the lead to 11, 25-14.
After field goals from junior guard Bobby Terry and McNeal, and a free throw by senior forward Malik Flowers, Richmond found itself sitting comfortable with a 14-point, 30-16 lead with 3:25 to go before the half.
And that’s when the Monarchs made it interesting.
NLCA finished the second frame on a 13-1 run that found the Raiders not able to convert on several opportunities. Four different players found the hoop in that stretch, and the Monarchs appeared to make it a game when they trailed 31-29 as the first-half buzzer sounded.
But whatever Pettigrew said to his team at halftime worked. The Raiders came out of the break on a 13-0 run in the opening 3:42 to surge ahead 44-29, causing NLCA head coach Aaron Parker to call a timeout.
The Richmond offense clicked on all cylinders as Quick splashed down two three-pointers and a putback shot on three straight Richmond possessions.
An Arshon King layup ended the Raiders’ thrashing, but an acrobatic series of spins from Flowers which resulted in a nifty underhand basket in the lane, pushed the lead to a game-high 15 points.
Senior Kaleb Douglas finished the quarter’s scoring when he hit his only basket of the night on a floater in the paint with under a second to go. Richmond outscored the Monarchs 17-6 in the third quarter, and entered the final stanza up 48-35.
But cue the Monarchs’ unrelenting offense and another lapse in Richmond’s ability to find the hoop and complacent defense. In a 4:36 span, NLCA exploded for a 15-3 run that eliminated the Raiders’ substantial lead to just one point, and trailed 51-50.
Flowers rattled a free throw through the net to stop the bleeding, but King answered with two of his own to regain the first Monarchs lead since the 4:14 mark in the opening quarter. Up 52-51 with 2:15 left in regulation, the Raiders were staring down the barrel of another close loss.
After a mid-range jumper by senior Da’Shaun Wallace and two Flowers free throws, Richmond was ahead again 55-52. Playing keep away with a series of a dozen passes to wind the clock down to exactly one minute, Terry banked an easy shot off the glass from under the hoop.
It appeared to be over – but a massive three-pointer from freshman guard Pharrell Davis and a made foul shot by junior Latrell Jones, again cut the lead to just one, 57-56, with 48.8 seconds to play.
As the clock wound down inside 30 seconds, Flowers hit another clutch free throw. However, the Monarchs weren’t finished, as senior Davante Gathers tipped a shot in off the glass to knot it up at 58 with 18.1 seconds remaining.
McNeal took the subsequent inbound pass and held in near half court before driving the lane with five seconds on the clock. His shot was off the mark and teammate Roderick Newton got his fingertips on the ball and pushed it to the hoop. It bounced off the back iron as the buzzer sounded.
Tied at 58, the Raiders headed to overtime for the first time the season.
The four-minute overtime period was a high-scoring affair by both teams, but it was Richmond that hit clutch free throws down the stretch to ice the victory.
NLCA found a grove early, as it went ahead 65-61, but a technical foul called on the Monarchs for apparent swearing during a timeout sent Newton to the line. This ultimately proved to be the turning point in favor of the home team.
Of the 17 total points the Raiders scored in the extra frame, 13 of them came from the charity stripe thanks to the double bonus. Newton, who hadn’t hit a bucket all night, went 8-for-10 from the line in overtime. Terry knocked down three-of-four chances, while Flowers and McNeal each had one.
In a last-ditch effort for the Monarchs, King laid in a shot with 8.3 seconds remaining to make the score 74-72. But a Terry free throw and just seconds left on the clock ended the game.
“We tend to do what works for us,” Pettigrew said. “Hitting the free throws (in overtime) was big for us. We need to hit both shots, not just the one-and-ones. Rod turned it on and continues to get better.”
For the second night in a row, the Raiders had 10 players net points on the score sheet. Flowers and Stanback led the team with 13 points each, while Quick added 11 points. McNeal finished with nine points, followed by Newton with eight and Terry with seven.
Gathers led all scorers with 19 points, while King chipped in 15 for the Monarchs.
While getting two wins in a row give the Raiders some momentum, they have another three-game week ahead. They’ll host SAC leader Hoke County High School (17-1, 9-0 SAC) on Tuesday, before a home-and-home series against Lumberton High School (9-10, 4-5 SAC) on Wednesday (snow day make up) and Friday. All games are set to tip off at 7:30 p.m.
