FAYETTEVILLE — Much like the first meeting between the Richmond Raiders and the Seventy-First Falcons, defense was the name of the game during Tuesday’s Sandhills Athletic Conference meeting.
The Raiders held off a late push by the Falcons, completing the regular-season series sweep with a 52-47 win. It was Richmond’s third-straight win over a conference opponent, and kept the Raiders in the third spot of the conference standings.
“We had two days off where we weren’t in the gym so we were a little rusty tonight,” head coach Donald Pettigrew said. “But defensively, Coach Simmons does a great job of coaching his guys and they made it tough for us.
“But defensively for us, I thought we played a whole lot better,” he added. “We continue to get better on defense, and it’s good to see us do that on the road in a tough place to earn a win.”
What started out as a defensive slugfest between the two teams, the Raiders and Falcons battled to an 18-17 score in favor of the visitors at halftime.
Seventy-First opened the game on a 7-0 run, forcing Pettigrew to burn a timeout at the 5:09 mark of the first quarter. The brief pause worked for the Raiders, as they ended the frame on a 13-2 run.
Senior forward Jarvis Tillman broke the silence with a shot off the glass with 4:32 to play, and junior guard Dylan Lewis connected on the first of his two three-pointers. Adding to the rush with four points was junior guard PJ McLaughlin and junior wing Caleb Hood added two points.
The second period wasn’t much better for either team offensively, as Richmond added just five points thanks to a three-ball from junior Dalton Stroman and a baseline drive from McLaughlin. At the break, the Raiders held a one-point lead.
But Lewis, who scored a team-high 12 points for Richmond, would help distance the Raiders in the third, scoring seven more points. He opened the second half with a triple from the top of the key, before adding a pair of free throws and a jumper.
An 11-0 run by the Raiders to start the second half saw them jump ahead by 12 points, 29-17, the largest lead they would hold at any point in the game. Junior forward Nygie Stroman, who didn’t score in the first half, added five of his seven points in the third, including a triple from the left corner.
Following a timeout, Seventy-First cut its deficit to three points, 29-26, when Cameron Shelton hit a jumper with 3:15 to go. But Nygie Stroman’s three-pointer on the next possession sparked a 10-1 run by Richmond to close the frame.
Sophomore shooting guard Kellan Hood rattled home a three-pointer from the left corner, his only points of the game, with 1:30 left to give Richmond a 10-point lead heading into the fourth.
Seventy-First’s Quiones Clayton made things interesting in the final stanza when he hit back-to-back three-pointers to make it a three-point deficit, 42-39, with 5:05 left in regulation.
To answer, Richmond rolled on another run, this one a 8-0 spurt. Nygie Stroman started with a left-handed drive, and was followed by a three-pointer from Tillman. Caleb Hood added the final three points on a free throw and a transition basket.
With the clock winding inside the final 10 seconds, Seventy-First’s Alvin Freeman splashed a three-pointer to make it a 50-47 lead for Richmond. On the ensuing inbound, Lewis was fouled coming up the floor, and he hit both ends of his one-and-one opportunity to secure the win.
McLaughlin finished with 10 points, Tillman added nine points for Richmond and Nygie Stroman rounded out the attack with seven points. Dalton Stroman and Caleb Hood finished with six and five points, respectively.
Freeman was the game’s leading scorer with 15 points, followed by 13 points from Clayton for Seventy-First (8-14, 4-9 SAC).
“We have to do a better job at the end with protecting the ball late in games,” Pettigrew noted. “We were up 50-39 and we were in a comfort zone and stopped. We can’t do that.
“Dylan has been working extra hours in the gym and it’s paying off,” he closed. “He’s shooting the ball with a lot more confidence. Quamir Sivels is back (from injury) and I told the guys we’re playing good basketball at the right time.”
The third-place Raiders (16-6, 9-3 SAC) matched their SAC win total from last season and will have a chance for win No. 10 on Wednesday at second-place Lumberton (18-4, 9-3 SAC).
Richmond will look to avenge a 30-point loss from the first meeting. Tipoff is set to get underway around 7:30 p.m.
