PEMBROKE — In the previous meeting between Richmond Senior and Purnell Swett, both teams combined for 221 points in the Raiders’ win in Rockingham.

Tuesday night’s game at Purnell Swett was high-scoring for the Raiders, but a sluggish start was the demise of the Rams.

Richmond claimed a 107-50 win over the Rams to keep themselves in contention in the Southeastern Conference title race.

“We came out flat,” Purnell Swett coach Jeremy Sampson said. “If you come out flat on a team like that, they’re going to put you flat.

“This game was over early. Like what one of my assistants said, something was in our guys’ heads tonight.”

The win keeps Richmond two games back of Scotland in first place with four games left, including the regular season finale at home against the Scots.

“It’s keeping us in the hunt,” Laton said. “As the season goes on, there’s going to be more and more people knocking each other off so this win is important.”

Richmond (12-8, 4-3 SEC) was led by Lavell Ellerbe with 18, Malik Flowers with 15 and Jaylon Terry with 14.

After going neck-in-neck with Richmond for the first two minutes and leading 8-6 after a Luke Brooks 3-pointer, Purnell Swett (3-13, 0-7 SEC) went cold while the Raiders kept running. Richmond scored 26 unanswered points to go up 32-8 with less than a minute to go in the quarter.

In the previous two games this season, Purnell Swett was able to keep the game closer in the first half before Richmond pulled away. But in this game, the Rams struggled out of the gate.

This was the first time in three games that Richmond has held its opponent under 100 points and is the Raiders’ third straight game reaching the 100-point plateau.

The Raider’s pressure, doubled with its offense, in the second quarter pushed the lead to 30 points less than two minutes into the quarter. From there, Richmond continued to compound onto the lead and a basket by Leon Ziegler with two minutes until halftime had the lead at 62-21.

“We didn’t take care of the ball like we are supposed to,” Sampson said.

The Rams’ Matthias Carter had a team-high eight points, Austin Edwards and Brooks added seven.

The Raiders play at Lumberton and the Purnell Swett hosts Pinecrest on Friday.

Richmond girls down Lady Rams for second SEC win

With her starters turning the ball over and struggling to get the offense to a rhythm in the third quarter, Richmond Senior girls basketball coach Rosalind McLendon McDonald felt her team needed a few fresh bodies on the court so she replaced all five players on the floor with reserve players hoping to change the tide of the game.

The switch worked as the Lady Raiders pulled out a 27-26 win over Purnell Swett on the road on Tuesday night.

“I felt like we needed a fresh set of hands and feet to get us in the flow,” McDonald said. “We needed to mix it up, and that did it for us.”

Richmond’s Mya Holiday had 10 points and Zelda McLaughlin chipped in six off the bench in the winning effort.

“We were fortunate to be able to be strong on the inside against what Purnell Swett was doing to us,” McDonald said of her two bigs. “Those girls were strong and gave us what we needed.”

McLaughlin and Purnell Swett’s Paige Sweeney traded baskets in the final quarter as the teams stayed within three points of each other, but it was Richmond (6-10, 2-5 SEC) coming away with the plays late to pull out the win. The win is the Lady Raiders’ second Southeastern Conference win of the season.

“Every win is a confidence booster,” McDonald said. “Hopefully this can give us momentum going into Friday against Lumberton.”

After falling into an 8-4 hole at the end of the first quarter, the Lady Raiders clawed their way back to tie the game at 8-all in the first two minutes of the second quarter. Holiday gave Richmond its first lead of the game at 14-13 after back-t0-back baskets.

“We picked the intensity up and played with energy on defense,” McDonald said of Richmond’s second-quarter run. “Then we realized we were in the game and could go toe-to-toe with them.”

Baskets from Kalaysia Fisher, McLaughlin and Zariah Williams in the third pushed the lead to 23-19 with less than two minutes to go in the quarter.

Purnell Swett (3-14, 0-7 SEC) was led by Leanna Bird and Sweeney with six points. Nakayra Mitchell added four points.

The Lady Raiders play at SEC-leading Lumberton and the Purnell Swett hosts Pinecrest on Friday.

Jonathan Bym | The Robesonian Luke Brooks rises up past three Richmond defenders for a layup in Purnell Swett’s loss to the Raiders.
https://www.robesonian.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/web1_DSC_0912.jpgJonathan Bym | The Robesonian Luke Brooks rises up past three Richmond defenders for a layup in Purnell Swett’s loss to the Raiders.
Richmond routs Purnell Swett, 107-50

By Jonathan Bym

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Jonathan Bym can be reached at 910-816-1977. Follow him on Twitter @Jonathan_Bym.