The Randolph-Henry High School varsity boys basketball team lost two close games recently.

The Statesmen rallied against Central Lunenburg but fell short 56-51, and had several second-half leads before succumbing 53-47 to Cumberland.

While playing against the Chargers, the Statesmen trailed closely, but never held a lead.

Falling behind in the fourth quarter by as much as nine points, R-H cut the lead down to two but the Chargers were able to cash in a free throw to win by five. 

Tremaine Pugh had a big game for the Statesmen scoring 21 points and grabbing nine rebounds.

Others scorers for R-H were Damian Dixon (8), Dajour Davis (6), Daquan Wilson (6), Sam Williams (4), Sherrek Boyd (4) and Nasheim Pettus (2).  Williams also pulled down nine rebounds.

“In the Lunenburg game, we turned the ball over too many times with most being unforced errors,” said R-H varsity boys basketball coach James Graves.

“We played hard to comeback in the fourth quarter, and Tremaine was dominant on the offensive boards in that frame.” 

The following Thursday, the Statesmen, after spotting the Cumberland Dukes an early lead, played a very close game with many lead changes. 

The Dukes jumped out to 13-4 lead early.  R-H rallied to cut the margin to 23-21 at the break. The Statesmen took the lead in the third quarter and held the lead several times in the fourth. 

Neither team could break away in the waning minutes. The Dukes held a three-point lead with eight seconds to play and were able to hit a free throw to hold on for the victory.

“The Cumberland game may have been the best game we’ve played except for the first three minutes,” Graves said.

“We settled down, got back in the game by half time and had multiple opportunities in the fourth quarter to close the game out but were unable to. The score in this game is not reflective of how close it was down the stretch.”

Pugh, again, led the way scoring 15 points and hauling in 10 rebounds. The rest of the Statesmen offensive attack was by Pettus with (10), Williams (9), Wilson (4), Dixon (2), Jalin Watson (2) and Billy Brantley (2).

“Jalin Watson and Nasheim Pettus provided a spark off the bench at point guard while Sam Williams provided some punch from outside. Tremaine had another excellent game,” Graves said.

“The team played much better in both these games. Unfortunately, we were not able to get a victory in either one.”

The R-H Statesmen will return to action on Wednesday, when they host Bluestone at 7 p.m.

The J.V. boys basketball team will play prior to the varsity at 5:30 p.m.