PEMBROKE, N.C. – The only thing that separated the Richmond Senior High School varsity Raiders basketball team from its first win of 2018, and first in the last four games, was a strong defensive performance in the second half of Friday night’s road game against Purnell Swett High School.
Playing at Pembroke Middle School, the Raiders (5-11, 1-6 Sandhills Athletic Conference) let a one-point halftime deficit escape in what would eventually become a 69-52 loss to the Rams (6-6, 2-4 SAC).
In what began as a closely contested ball game in the first half quickly came apart in latter half for the Raiders, as Purnell Swett used its size and strength to get down low in the paint and pick apart Richmond’s defense.
Head coach Donald Pettigrew’s team played well in the opening eight minutes, and held a small lead to open the game. Freshman guard Caleb Hood, who has been earning a consistent spot in the starting rotation, scored five of his team’s nine first-quarter points. Both teams finished the opening frame with nine points, in a quarter that saw four lead changes and two ties.
However, Richmond would gain its largest lead of the night in the first quarter, a 9-6 score thanks to a Hood layup and an Xavier Pettigrew free throw.
The second quarter was much of the same, as the Raiders and Rams went bucket-for-bucket on the scoreboard. Purnell Swett senior center Kalan Locklear, who bodied his way through the paint all night, drove to the hoop for the first points of the second quarter to push the lead to 11-9. Another Locklear field goal on the next possession would prove to create a lead that the Rams would hold onto until the final buzzer.
“We couldn’t get anything going,” Pettigrew said of his team’s performance. “And you can’t have that at the varsity level and expect to win. They (Purnell Swett) had the momentum the whole game, the crowd was into it.”
Richmond junior guard Alex Quick hit one of his team’s only two three-pointers of the night with 5:09 remaining in the second quarter to cut the deficit to 15-14. Pettigrew drove hard through the paint to get two more points, but a triple by Purnell Swett’s Kyler Page stalled what little momentum the Raiders had.
Trailing 22-16 with just under three minutes before the half, Richmond but together one of its longest runs of the night, a 5-0 stretch, to pull within one. Junior guard Malik Stanback hit a free throw, while Pettigrew cut backdoor and laid in a pass from senior teammate Kaleb Douglas. Defensively, Douglas ended the run when he intercepted an errant Rams pass and ran it the length of the floor for a layup.
Following a 12-foot jumper by senior point guard Kevin Hardin, the Rams entered the half with a 24-23 lead. And Richmond had the momentum in its favor. But it wouldn’t last.
The game became more physical in the second half, as Purnell Swett opened the third quarter with an 11-2 run of its own to extend the lead to 35-25. Locklear gathered six of his 12 total points during that span, and got help with a bucket from Hardin and three-pointer and free throw courtesy of Page.
With 5:01 left in the third, Pettigrew hit a fancy spin move down low for two of his game-high 18 points, and followed it up on the next Raider possession with a driving shot off a pass from Stanback.
Field goals from senior guards Da’Shaun Wallace and Darrius Butler, as well as a last-second tip in from Quick, helped keep the lead from getting any larger, but Richmond entered the final quarter trailing by seven, 41-34.
It was the final frame where Richmond’s wheels fell off both offensively and defensively. The Raiders only managed to score 11 points, and gave up 28 points to the Rams. Following a Butler triple, Purnell Swett opened things up with a 7-0 run to extend the lead to 13 points, 50-37.
Pettigrew, who has been nursing a knee injury since early December, made a valiant effort to get Richmond back in the game. With 5:03 to go in regulation, Pettigrew went on to score the next six points for Richmond, which included a hard-driving breakaway layup following a steal by senior teammate Carl McNeal.
Despite helping cut the lead to nine points, 55-46, Pettigrew didn’t return to the game following his final basket, as it appeared he agitated his knee injury.
In the game’s closing minutes, the Rams went on a 14-4 run to avenge an early-season loss to the Raiders.
Pettigrew led all scorers with 18 points, while Page was close behind with 17 for the Rams. Purnell Swett had two other players in double digits in Locklear (12 points) and Hardin (11 points).
Junior guards Keagan Brayboy and Darriante Parker chipped in nine points each for the Rams. The second leading scorer for Richmond was Butler with six points. Hood and Quick each tallied five on the night.
“We tried to get it inside to Xavier, but he isn’t 100 percent,” Pettigrew noted. “He was our leading scorer, but somebody’s got to step up. And defensively, we played horrible. It was probably our worst (defensive) performance of the season.”
The Raiders have a three-game week ahead of them starting next Thursday at Pinecrest High School. The Patriots (13-3, 4-2 SAC) defeated Richmond 64-51 on December 8. Tipoff is set for 7:30 p.m.
