The 2009-10 Richmond Senior men’s basketball team continues to show why it’s a different squad from those that have struggled in the past few years.

The Raiders erased a 17-point third quarter deficit, and outscored visiting South Robeson 44-28 in the second half to come back and defeat the Mustangs 63-60 Tuesday night at Raider Gym.

Richmond’s third straight win improved the Raiders’ mark to 8-2 on the season.

“I thought we fought through a lot of adversity, and played with a lot of effort to come back and win this game,” Raiders senior shooting guard Brian Love said.

“We didn’t give or led up and really showed a heart of a champion.”

Love carried over his strong performance in last week’s Holiday-in-the-Pines tournament into helping Richmond beat South Robeson for the second time this season.

Love scored a team-high 19 points, including hitting five of the Raiders’ nine 3-pointers.

“I thought Brian played smart,” Raiders coach David Laton said. “He really played well though their physical play because he got hit a lot, but he didn’t complain.”

Love’s scored his final trey the old-fashioned way as his three-point play broke a 58-all tie and gave Richmond a 61-58 lead with 38 seconds remaining and an advantage that the Raiders never relinquished.

“They kept overplaying me on defense, and I knew, I needed to take the ball to the hole instead of taking an outside shot,” Love said.

“I knew I could take my man off the dribble. I did a crossover, took it to the hole, tried my best to finish and fortunately it went in.”

On the following play, Mustang Tyray Belin, who scored a game-high 24 points, narrowed Richmond’s lead to 61-60 with 28 seconds left, after knifing through the lane and scoring on a left-handed layup.

South Robeson nearly created a turnover on the Raiders’ next possession, but Kasheem Reid was fouled on the play. Reid calmly swished both free-throws, which were his only points in the game, giving Richmond a 63-60 lead with 15 seconds to go in the contest.

The Mustangs pushed the ball the length of the court following their timeout. After Timothy Carter misfired on a 3-point attempt, Belin grabbed the rebound, dribbled out beyond the arc and front rimmed an off balance triple as time expired.

Forwards Will Freeman and Anthony Keane both stepped up in the second half to help Richmond rally for the victory. Freeman scored 13 of his 17 points after halftime, including nine points in the fourth. Keane scored all 12 of his points in the final two quarters.

According to Laton, Devontae Lindsey came off the bench to give Richmond some good play in the fourth.

Richmond returns to action today against South View in a nonconference contest at Raider Gym with tipoff at 7:30 p.m.

The Raiders defeated Tigers 74-58 in the season-opener.

Contact sports reporter Corey Davis at 997-3111, ext. 44; e-mail cdavis@yourdailyjournal.com