By Peter Mikhael
Seven-foot junior center Dylan Gollihar passed the ball from the free throw lane to senior shooting guard Kaiden Anderson, who made a 3-pointer in the playoff game against Harker Heights. After winning 81-68, Richardson’s boys basketball team reached the quarterfinals boasting one of the best records in the history of the program. With a slow start, however, they could not catch up to Irving MacArthur and lost 82-70 in what would be their final game of the year.
“After the Harker Heights game, our 2nd round playoff game, on the charter bus on the way home – that was fun,” Anderson said. “We came back after a big win, and it was the closest I felt to everybody. I think we kind of fell away from the way we were playing before, and it became less about the team and more about the performance individually. The other team just came out, and they played better than us.”
Despite the season’s abrupt end, the team said they had success with winning The Colony tournament and both the district and bi-district competitions.
“It was a special season with lots of special moments,” coach Justin Reese said. “I think our players will always remember cutting the nights down here at RHS after we beat Pearce to clinch the district title. And they will always remember going to Waco and beating a really good Harker Heights team to go to the third round.”
Junior point guard Brandon Averette said winning district was among his favorite memories from the season.
“Winning district was the best feeling in the season,” Averette said. “It felt good. It felt like we put life back into the school, basketball and into Richardson.”
With a 30-5 season record and a state rank of 13, the basketball players attributed their achievements to their unity and close friendships.
“We worked really hard during the off-season,” Averette said. “We all stayed focus and had the same mindset. We all had a really good bond. We’re all really good friends, on and off the court.”
Reese said the students worked hard, played really well together and earned all the credit. The players said they often practiced together to get each other ready.
“We would all go to the gym before games, get some shots up, work out with each other, play music and get our minds focused before games,” senior power forward Nicholas Igbinigie said. “A portion of our teammates would go to the rec, go to the shooting gun and put some shots up. Another half of us would just get our minds ready. We would read books or listen to music or do something that takes our minds off of basketball and then refocus when its time comes.”
Some students said it was sometimes hard to move on after a loss and not blame each other when mistakes occurred.
“[The challenge was] sticking together throughout the whole time, the whole season,” Anderson said. “Not putting the blame on everybody else – just trying to stick together and just be a cohesive unit. We went to Houston and a lot of us got really sick and we couldn’t play to our full potential, so it was tough to play together. We stuck through it and came out stronger I think.”
After playing his last high school basketball game, Igbinigie said he learned how to face adversity after having devoted much of his time and effort to basketball.
“Learning that not everything may go your way and you still have to respond positively – in life, there are Ls and Ws,” Igbinigie said. “You just got to roll with the punches.”
With six seniors on the team, the players said they will miss playing for Richardson next year but that they have enjoyed every moment of it.
“It’s bittersweet,” Anderson said. “It’s happy and sad. Looking back, we had the best season Richardson has had, and looking back at it, it was a great ride. The way it ended sucked, but every season comes to an end. One team has happy ending and the rest of them are sad.”
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