Dave Paxton
Dave Paxton
2:00pm - 7:00pm
Afternoons with Paxton

Richmond Red Devil Wrapup

Turn Up The Gas

Saturday Night a Golden Falcons team came to the Tiernan Center, determined to end Richmond’s win streak. A Golden Falcons team, that on January 18th was down 28 points to Blackford starting the 4th quarter, forced overtime and won 98-95. A team, that like Richmond, could come from behind to ensure a victory. This was also a team that brought a legitimate threat to Cleevas Craig. Payton Sparks.  This game was also Senior night, so Coach Baz started his Seniors, which were the normal starting five, minus Drew Kroft, replacing him with Senior Rafael Deane. 

The tip went the way of Richmond, but Tytan Newton missed the first shot, and Winchester came down and scored first with a 3. Richmond grabbed a bucked and Winchester returned for another 3.  Craig was able to knock in a couple more shots before Richmond took the lead midway through the first quarter, and never looked back. The big issue that Richmond had to address were fouls, especially with Deane and Craig.

One of the things Richmond has been guilty of this season is cooling off in the third quarter. The cool off didn’t happen as Richmond kept the intensity throughout the third and fourth quarter. In fact, Winchester tried a full court press to stop Richmond, and Tytan Newton dissected it like a surgeon.  All seemed well until the 4th quarter.

Midway through the 4th quarter with the Red Devils up by 15, Drew Kroft attempted a windmill dunk, as he came down, he landed hard. The training staff checked out his knee and were able to help him off the court.  Unfortunately, there was still almost 4 minutes of basketball left to play, so Ty Harris was called upon to finish out for Kroft.  While he couldn’t go back into the game, Drew did come back out with an iced knee to support the team as the sealed the victory.   As of this writing, the extent of the injury is unknown, but our hearts and prayers go out to Drew, and the hopes that it isn’t anything serious.

Richmond knocked of Winchester, bringing the season to 11-7, and a 6-game win streak, the best since the 2014/2015 season.

Final score 67-51