ROCKINGHAM - Minutes after his team lost to Scotland High School in the opening round of the Sandhills Athletic Conference tournament on February 13, first-year head coach Donald Pettigrew said he was already looking forward to building up and improving the Raiders varsity basketball program for next season.
And the next step in continuing to develop his players and program comes in the form of the Raiders Classic summer basketball tournament. Set to be held on Friday, June 15, and Saturday, June 16, at Richmond Senior High School, Pettigrew and the Raiders will welcome in eight regional high school teams.
“I want our players to continue to develop and get better,” Pettigrew said following last season. “And I want us to win. Our goal is to become a top program in the state, and I’d like to get back to how we played in ’96 and ’97. I know we’ll be a whole lot better (next season).”
The Raiders will sport two teams, and the only other SAC school slated to play is Scotland. Some of the other schools making the trip to Rockingham in two weeks are teams Pettigrew and his team faced during the 2017-18 season, which include: Fairmont High School (Robeson County), New Life Christian Academy (Cumberland County) and Southern Lee High School (Lee County).
The four remaining schools are Gray’s Creek High School (Cumberland County), Pine Forest High School (Cumberland County), Red Springs High School (Robeson County) and Union Pines High School (Moore County). The Red Springs Red Devils will be the only other team besides Richmond in the early summer classic to have two teams.
Pettigrew will be assisted by a handful of coaches throughout the jamboree, including varsity assistant Derrick Watkins, and fellow Richmond coaches Bryan Hinson and Tony Terry. There will be a mix of varsity and junior varsity players competing for the Raiders.
Last season, Richmond went 6-16 and finished tied for last place in the SAC with Purnell Swett High School. Scotland, meanwhile, was near the top of the conference, finishing second behind SAC powerhouse Hoke County High School. The Fighting Scots went 19-9 overall, and had a 9-5 record in SAC play.
Fairmont and Red Springs both play in the Three Rivers Conference (1A/2A), and the Golden Tornadoes won the conference title by going 29-2 overall, and 17-1 in TRC play. Red Springs finished third in the conference standings, racking up a 17-9 overall record, and 13-5 within the conference. The Raiders opened their season against Fairmont on November 29, falling 63-49.
One of Richmond’s best wins of last season came against Southern Lee on December 19, when the Raiders upset the Cavaliers 55-54. At that point in the season, Southern Lee was 9-1, and would eventually go on to win the Tri-County Conference (3A) by compiling a 25-4 overall record and a 9-1 tally in TCC play. Union Pines also plays in the same conference, and finished last of six teams last season, going 10-15 (3-7, TCC).
On January 27, Richmond also impressed in a 75-72 overtime win against New Life. The Monarchs played a full schedule in 2017-18, going an impressive 33-11, and winning the CAASC Eastern Airborne Conference.
Pine Forest and Gray’s Creek are members of the Patriot Conference (3A/4A), and both finished in the bottom half last season. Pine Forest went 13-13 (9-7 PC), and Gray’s Creek tallied a 4-21 overall record (3-13 PC).
The Raiders Classic jamboree will use two courts with games being played simultaneously, and be operated under a two 20-minute half format, with a running clock. Teams will follow general basketball rules, with all field goals being worth either two or three points. However, if a player is fouled and the shot is missed, he will get one foul shot that’s worth the total number of points of his original shot.
Richmond, Scotland, New Life, Pine Forest and Union Pines will participate in both days of the jamboree. Fairmont and Red Springs will play in the Friday games, while Southern Lee and Gray’s Creek will participate on Saturday. Games will begin both days at 9 a.m., and start times will run every hour until 3 p.m. on Friday, and 2 p.m. on Saturday.
All teams playing on Friday will each play three games, except the second Richmond team, which will play only two games. All eight teams playing Saturday will play play three games. Pettigrew and company are encouraging the community to come out and support the Raiders.
Below is a listing of all the games in the Raider Classic (first team in each matchup is designated as the visiting team):
Friday, June 15
Scotland vs. Union Pines (9 a.m., Court 1)
Red Springs B vs. Richmond B (9 a.m., Court 2)
Fairmont vs. Richmond A (10 a.m., Court 1)
New Life vs. Pine Forest (10 a.m., Court 2)
Union Pines vs. Red Springs A (11 a.m., Court 1)
Red Springs B vs. Scotland (11 a.m., Court 2)
Richmond A vs. New Life (12 p.m., Court 1)
Pine Forest vs. Fairmont (12 p.m., Court 2)
Richmond B vs. Red Springs A (1 p.m., Court 1)
Fairmont vs. Union Pines (1 p.m., Court 2)
Pine Forest vs. Red Springs B (2 p.m., Court 1)
Scotland vs. New Life (2 p.m., Court 2)
Red Springs A vs. Richmond A (3 p.m., Court 1)
Saturday, June 16
Richmond A vs. Pine Forest (9 a.m., Court 1)
Scotland vs. Southern Lee (9 a.m. Court 2)
Richmond B vs. Gray’s Creek (10 a.m., Court 1)
Union Pines vs. New Life (10 a.m., Court 2)
Gray’s Creek vs. Richmond A (11 a.m., Court 1)
Scotland vs. Pine Forest (11 a.m., Court 2)
Southern Lee vs. Union Pines (12 p.m., Court 1)
New Life vs. Richmond B (12 p.m., Court 2)
Richmond B vs. Pine Forest (1 p.m., Court 1)
Gray’s Creek vs. Scotland (1 p.m., Court 2)
New Life vs. Southern Lee (2 p.m., Court 1)
Richmond A vs. Union Pines (2 p.m., Court 2)
