Scotland boys basketball ends regular season with win over Richmond, Lady Scots drop finale

LAURINBURG —The Scotland boys basketball team defeated the archrival Richmond Raiders 79-72 in the team’s regular season finale at Scotland High School on Friday night. The Scots finish the regular season at 6-16 (3-9 against conference opponents) with two straight wins while the Raiders conclude their regular season with two straight losses and at 14-9 (9-3 vs SAC teams). Scotland was able to split the season series and avenge a 65-29 blowout loss to Richmond in Rockingham back on Jan. 17.

That earlier season loss to the Raiders is something Head Coach Michael Malpass did not forget coming into Friday’s contest. Scotland’s ability to overcome that loss is something Malpass praised after the game.

“This team beat us at their place by 36, it was a running clock,” Malpass said. “To beat a team that beat you by 36 is a testament to their attention, toughness and ability to buy into what we’re doing.”

Early on the Raiders had the momentum as they scored the first four points of the game, though Dajuan Gibson erased that deficit by hitting a three-pointer as he was getting fouled. Scotland then hung around for most of the opening frame until Richmond scored 14 unanswered points from the 4:03 mark until there was just 1:30 left in the quarter to bring their lead up from 13-11 to 27-11. Chance Crowder’s layup at the very end of the period gave the Raiders a 29-13 advantage after eight minutes.

The Scots would flip a switch to start the second quarter, scoring 11 unanswered points within the first 2:22 thanks to two three-pointers from Gibson as well as baskets from Jerrison Dixon and Quatavius Everette. Even though Richmond responded with four straight points to bring their lead back up to nine (33-24), the Scots would score eight in a row thanks to five points from Tomek McFadden and Gibson’s third three-pointer of the quarter to suddenly make it a one-point game (33-32). The Raiders would be up 35-32 at the break thanks to another last second bucket from Crowder.

Malpass has made many adjustments during his 21 years of coaching. One thing he hasn’t done? Make a new offense for his team to use on the fly.

“We went to a horns offense that we’ve never run, all we did was extend for backdoors and we allowed for get action on the strong side,” Malpass said. “We literally just installed an offense in the second quarter and erased a 15-point deficit, that’s growth.”

The start of the second half simply saw Scotland continue to hang around, never falling behind by more than four but never getting back to even until the 4:54 mark when it was 40-40. The Raiders would go on a 5-0 run over a 49 second span that brought their advantage back up to five (47-42) with three minutes left in the period. The Scots would respond with seven unanswered points (five from Gibson and a bucket from Zion Morrison) in a 53 second span that gave them a 51-49 lead, though Amer Morrison made one free throw at the very end of the period as Scotland was up 51-50 after three quarters.

Scotland would then continue to make plays when it counted throughout the final frame, starting the period on an 8-2 run within 1:22 to expand their lead up to 59-52. Richmond would get the deficit as low as three on several occasions but the Scots always seemed to have an answer for any Raiders surge, the most important example being consecutive baskets from Shylan Harrell and Gibson after the game was 73-70 with 90 seconds left. Scotland led by as many as eight (71-63 with three minutes left) and would officially ice the game on a pair of free throws from Gibson with 10 seconds left.

Gibson was exceptional the entire night for the Scots, scoring nearly half the team’s points with 37. McFadden and Harrell added 14 and 11 respectively.

Gibson praised his teammates after his career night. In an energy filled affair, Gibson trusted the gameplan and knew others would do the same.

“Coach told us to play together as a team and that’s what we did,” Gibson said. “We just had to stay together and knew we had each other.”

Scotland will now head into the conference tournament starting next week. Their first round opponent is not known as of this writing.

Lady Scots drop regular season finale

The Lady Scots were defeated by the visiting Raiders in a 60-38 final on Friday night at Scotland High School. Scotland concludes the regular season at 12-8 (6-6 in conference games) while Richmond finishes at 18-5 (11-1 against SAC opponents) and on a nine-game winning streak. The Raiders took both regular season meetings from the Scots as they also won in Rockingham 54-37 back on Jan. 17.

The first quarter was a slugfest with neither team scoring at all until Morgan Thompson knocked down a three-pointer after 2.5 minutes had passed while Richmond didn’t get their first points until over four minutes had elapsed on a basket from Madisen Jackson. Kayla Simmons then drew a foul and made two free throws to five Scotland a 5-2 lead with 2:31 left in the opening frame. However, that lead wouldn’t last as the Raiders quickly scored seven unanswered to go up 9-5 before Madison Dixon got one more basket for the Scots with 16 seconds remaining in the period (Richmond was up 9-7 after eight minutes).

Head Coach Roshien McClain liked the start he saw from his team, especially on the defensive side of the ball. The Raiders getting back in the contest is something McClain explained as the Scots simply not sticking to what they were initially doing.

“I thought we started off good by holding them the way we did,” McClain said. “We just stopped doing the things we were doing like rebounding, hustling and getting those loose balls.”

Alicia McClain would knock down a three-pointer just 21 seconds into the second quarter to momentarily give Scotland the lead back at 10-9, though that momentum would quickly die out. Richmond responded with a 12-0 run that was only stopped by a McClain free throw with 3:48 left until halftime. The Scots would get the margin down to nine (24-15) at the 2:08 mark thanks to some free throws and a bucket from Thompson but the Raiders still led comfortably (28-17) at halftime.

Scotland managed to bring the margin down to eight (38-30) with three minutes left in the third quarter, though that would be as close as they would get to even again. The Raiders then scored nine unanswered points to inflate their advantage up to 17 (47-30). Thompson would get fouled on a three-point attempt at the buzzer and make all three free throws to make the game 47-33 after 24 minutes.

Jamyia Lindsey scored the first six points of the final period on her own to further stretch Richmond’s lead up to 20 (53-33). Thompson’s basket with 4:49 left were the first points Scotland scored in the fourth quarter but it would never get any closer from there as the Scots could only muster five points during the final frame, all of which came from Thompson. The Raiders led by as many as 24 (60-36) en route to victory.

McClain boiled down the second half issues to a lack of discipline and too many errors. When playing a team as good as Richmond, those problems get magnified.

“You have to be disciplined when you’re playing them and you have minimal mistakes you can make when you’re down,” McClain said. “They’re real solid at every position, they know their role and what to do.”

Thompson paced Scotland in scoring with 23 points. Dixon added eight.

Thompson, Dixon, McClain, Simmons and Emerie Snuggs were recognized for their contributions to Scotland on senior night. McClain was very grateful for all they have accomplished in the program, including a conference championship and two appearances in the third round of the state playoffs.

“They have been tremendous,” McClain said. “All five of them have been together since the 10th grade, it’s been a great group of seniors.”

The Scots as the No. 4 seed in the SAC will host No. 5 seed Lee County in the first round of the SAC tournament on Monday night at 6 p.m. Scotland took both regular season meetings from the Yellow Jackets, most recently a 57-35 road contest on Tuesday night.