FAYETTEVILLE — A rollercoaster of a season ended with a win for the Richmond Senior High School junior varsity boys’ basketball team Friday.
Starting a tripleheader at Pine Forest High School, the JV Raiders completed their season sweep of the JV Trojans.
The Mid-South Conference game ended 56-46 in favor of Richmond.
“It was really good to end the season with a win,” head coach Travis Byers said. “We’d already beaten Pine Forest once this season, so we knew we could do it again. The guys stuck to the game plan and got the win.
“This season had its tough moments, but I think we grew as a team,” he added. “That’s the end goal, which is for everyone to get better and be ready to play at the varsity level.”
Having a big game around the basket to cap the season was sophomore Zymere Gillespie, who finished with a game-high 22 points. He scored eight field goals and six free throws, netting 12 points in the second half.
Freshman Jimmy Tillman contributed 14 points in the victory, the only other JV Raider in double figures. Freshman LaTavian Watkins had seven points and sophomore Xander Chavis chipped in six points.
Richmond’s other scorers were sophomore William Bryant (5 points), freshman Ryder Spooner (2 points) and sophomore Devin Haynes (2 points).
The first quarter was the highest-scoring quarter for either team in the game as the JV Trojans took a 20-19 lead.
Tillman had half of his points in the opening eight minutes, netting seven points on three field goals and a free throw. Gillespie got his night started with four points, making a bucket and two shots at the line.
Chavis and Spooner each scored a basket in the early going, with Bryant splashing down a three-pointer. A free throw from Watkins kept Richmond within a point.
A 10-8 run in the second quarter by Richmond gave the visitors a 29-28 lead at halftime. Gillespie brought his first-half total to 10 points with a trio of field goals.
Tillman and Bryant combined for the other four points, scoring a field goal and two free throws, respectively.
The game-changing run came in the third quarter for the JV Raiders, who used a 15-8 scoring stretch to put some distance between them and the JV Trojans.
It was Gillespie’s most productive quarter of the game, as he scored seven points. He was good on three shots from the floor and added one shot from the charity stripe.
Watkins added to the run with four points on two buckets, and Chavis and Tillman each had one basket.
Leading 44-36 to begin the final stanza, the JV Raiders relied on strong defense and scoring from five players to put the game away.
Outscoring the JV Trojans 12-10, Richmond built a double-digit lead. Gillespie led the team in scoring yet again, this time with four points on a basket and two foul shots.
The final three of Tillman’s points came on a bucket and a foul. Chavis had a field goal and Watkins and Haynes each made two free throws to round out the scoring.
With the season complete, the JV Raiders finished with a 4-12 overall record. Against MSC teams, they went 3-7.
