ROCKINGHAM — After a disastrous start to the season that featured one win in eight games, the Richmond Senior High School boys’ basketball team now holds a small lead in the conference standings.
The Raiders trailed for most of Monday’s Sandhills Athletic Conference game against visiting Southern Lee High School, but when it mattered, they rallied to win in overtime.
Handing the Cavaliers just their second loss of the season, Richmond used a six-point differential in the extra four-minute period to notch a 74-68 win.
Securing their 13th straight win, the Raiders evened the season series with Southern Lee (18-2, 8-2 SAC) and pulled ahead of the Cavaliers by half a game in the SAC standings.
Prior to the game, the Raiders celebrated their six senior players on senior night — Keyonta Davis, Tyshawn Harris, Davion Ingram, Zyonn Mason, Ahaiver McDonald and Ali Tyson.
PHOTOS: Click here to see photos of the Raider basketball team’s senior night.
Erasing a four-point deficit in the fourth quarter to force overtime, Richmond was led in scoring by Davis (19 points). Playing with a broken jaw suffered during Friday’s win, Davis shot 50% from the field with two triples and a perfect 5-for-5 at the line.
Junior Amer Morrison was just behind Davis with 18 points (8-of-12 shooting). He gave the Raiders a one-point lead early in extra time, creating the momentum that led to the win.
Sophomore Chance Crowder added 14 points on 5-of-9 shooting, including a big-time three-pointer in overtime that helped put Richmond ahead for good.
McDonald was Richmond’s fourth double-digit scorer with 13 points, which saw him go 7-for-8 from the charity stripe. Other scorers were junior Domonic Tillman (7 points) and Ingram (3 points).
https://twitter.com/ROSports_/status/1889167934347473060
Richmond started the game with a 3-2 lead thanks to a drive from Davis and a free throw by Tillman. But at the 5:52 mark of the quarter, Southern Lee took the lead and held onto it until the Raiders tied the game 58-58 with 1:24 to play in regulation.
Trailing by as many as eight points at any point in the game, Richmond hung around long enough to wear the Cavaliers out with their press defense.
Southern Lee led 16-13 after the first quarter and 33-25 at halftime. The Raiders closed that seven-point deficit to 47-44 at the end of three quarters.
In the final 1:16 of the third, Richmond went on a 7-0 run to pull within a possession. Davis completed an old-fashioned three-point play and Tillman netted a bucket and later made a free throw.
The Raiders continued to press in the fourth, outscoring the Cavaliers 14-11 to force overtime. Davis and Morrison both had five points in the fourth to help close the gap. It was a spinning putback by McDonald on an offensive board that knotted the game at 58 points with 1:24 to play.
The defense helped create a turnover when Southern Lee couldn’t inbound the ball within five seconds with 40 seconds to go. Trying to hold on for the final shot, Richmond turned the ball over without an attempt with 3.3 seconds to play, leading to overtime.
Near the midway point of overtime, McDonald connected on two free throws to make it a 61-60 deficit. On the ensuing inbound, Morrison stole the ball and laid it in for Richmond’s first lead since the opening minutes of the game.
Southern Lee retook the lead 63-62 after scoring a pair of free throws while in the bonus. Davis answered to give Richmond a two-point advantage when he drained a triple from the right corner in front of the Raiders’ bench.
Trying to inbound with 1:18 to play, Southern Lee coughed up possession. Getting the ball was Crowder, who made a contested three-pointer from the opposite corner to make it 68-63 with 55 ticks on the clock.
Crowder also scored the basket that proved to be the game-winner under the hoop with 25 seconds remaining. Icing the win was McDonald with two free throws and Crowder with another basket just before the horn.
Southern Lee was led in scoring by Jamauri Hall (23 points), Nysheed Williams (21 points) and Brett Tate-Blanks (13 points).
The Raiders (14-7, 9-2 SAC) will take a break from conference play when they go on the road to non-conference Pine Forest High School Wednesday. Tip-off is set for 8 p.m.
Sports editor's note: Statistics provided by assistant coach Keith Parsons.
