CHESTERFIELD, S.C. — A two-week break between games didn’t stop the Richmond Senior High School boys’ basketball team from staying in the win column Thursday.
Beginning their three-game venture in the Lugoff Christmas Classic hosted by Chesterfield High School, the Raiders showed little rust in a 62-49 victory over Lamar High School.
Emerging as the team’s go-to scorer a third of the way through the season, senior shooting guard Ahaiver McDonald netted a single-game career-high 25 points to lead all scorers.
McDonald shot 8-of-17 from the floor, including an 8-for-10 performance at the free throw line. He scored a dozen points through the first three quarters before helping put the game away with his final 13 points in the fourth.
Eight total players found the basket for Richmond, including senior point guard Keyonta Davis, who finished with 14 points on 6-of-9 shooting. As a team, Richmond posted a .453 shooting percentage in the win.
Junior Jayden Hamilton and freshman Donovan Jones each contributed six points. Juniors Amer Morrison and Domonic Tillman had four and three points, respectively, and senior Davion Ingram and sophomore Chance Crowder each scored two points.
The Raiders opened the game with a 15-10 lead following the first quarter. McDonald made four free throws and added a bucket for his first six points.
Davis dropped a pair of free throws and a field goal to add four points. Buckets from Hamilton and Tillman were followed by a Jones free throw.
The Silver Foxes (2-8) managed to close their halftime deficit by a point thanks to outscoring the Raiders 17-16 in the second.
Davis’ six points on a trio of baskets led the way to give him 10 points at the break. McDonald netted two field goals to bring his first-half total to 10 points, too.
Morrison did all of his scoring in the second with two buckets, while a field goal from Crowder made it a 31-27 lead at intermission.
Both teams’ scoring slowed in the third, but Richmond was able to build a cushion with a 14-8 run. Jones led the way with five points in the stanza, netting one of Richmond’s two three-pointers in the game, along with a bucket.
Hamilton found the cylinder twice for two baskets and his final four points. Davis and McDonald each scored two points and Tillman made a free throw to give Richmone a 45-35 advantage.
In the final eight minutes, McDonald took control of the scoring and recorded 13 of Richmond’s 17 points. He made three baskets and hit a triple, before sinking four shots at the charity stripe.
Davis made his final basket of the game and Ingram added two points of insurance to help the Raiders win their second game in a row.
Richmond (3-7) returns to play Friday and will face the winner of host Chesterfield and Central Academy of Technology and Arts at 8:30 p.m.
Sports editor’s note: Statistics provided by assistant coach Keith Parsons.
