ROCKINGHAM – The Raiders survived a few second-half runs from Ben L. Smith on Tuesday night to advance to the second round of the North Carolina High School Athletic Association playoffs.
“They really attack the glass and they force you into turnovers with their reckless style of defense,” Smith head coach Derrick Partee said. “Big props to them.”
Richmond forced 35 turnovers on the night.
“That’s a lot of turnovers,” head coach David Laton said. “So that makes us feel good about our defense.”
Smith’s Raymon Pratt led all scorers with 30 points on the night. The Golden Eagles struggled at the free-throw line, only hitting 12 of their 26 attempts.
“As a team, we shoot 73 percent on the season,” Partee said. “I couldn’t believe that we missed free throws the way we did. Maybe it was the pressure of the game but I don’t know.”
For the Raiders, Lavell Ellerbe and Jaylan Terry both finished with 17 points to lead Richmond in its first-round win. Leon Zeigler poured in 13 points, Malik Flowers added nine and Jordan Tillman chipped in eight points.
“I thought Lavell played great in the last minute,” Laton said. “He was really clutch down the stretch for us.”
With one minute to left in the game, Lavell Ellerbe drove the lane and converted an and-one layup to put the home team up by four. Although he missed the free throw, the Raiders were able to get a stop on defense.
After catching a quarter-court pass, Zeigler found Ellerbe for another layup, which sealed the deal.
Terry would go on to make one of his two free throws with 16 seconds left to make the final score 87-80.
“It was a great win for us,” Laton said. “We missed a lot of shots around the basket that we normally make. Hopefully we can make those Thursday night.”
Richmond will travel to Huntersville to face North Mecklenberg at 7 p.m. Thursday.
Reach sports editor Leon Hargrove Jr. at 910-817-2673 and follow him on Twitter @_UncleLeon.
