It was a tale of two halves for the Richmond Senior basketball team Monday night.

Richmond overcame a 30-18 halftime deficit and outscored Douglas Byrd 33-17 in the second half to improve its record to 3-0 on the season with a 51-47 victory over the Eagles at Raider Gymnasium.

Richmond raised up its defensive intensity after the half as the Raiders forced Byrd to commit 12 of its 22 turnovers in the final two quarters.

“I thought this was a good comeback by our team, and we gave great effort in the second half,” Raiders coach David Laton said.

“We really did a better job of pressuring the ball and forcing them into mistakes. I thought Jide (Reddick) really played well defensively in the middle. I also felt like we did a good job of defensive rebounding in the fourth and holding them to one shot.”

Will Freeman paced Richmond with 13 points, scoring eight in the second half. Quinton Quick added nine points, including seven in the fourth.

Quick swished a 3-pointer from the top of the key to tie the game at 42 with 4:50 remaining in the contest. Quick’s driving layup gave the Raiders a 44-42 advantage with 3:50 left to play, its first lead since 2-0 in the first and a lead that Richmond would never relinquished.

After Byrd’s Phillip Murphy’s jumper evened the game at 44, the Raiders used a 7-0 run capped by Quick’s long assist to Freeman, who finished the play with a uncontested two-handed dunk, giving Richmond a 51-44 lead with 30 seconds remaining.

“Will stepped up his play and gave up some scoring in the post,” Laton said.

“Quinton really gave us a lift and a spark in the fourth. He hit some big shots and dished out some good passes.”

The Eagles jumped out to a 7-2 lead in the first and led 14-9, going into the second. Kamal Campbell’s pull up jumper capped a 8-0 Eagles’ spurt to give Byrd a 22-9 lead and the Eagles took a 12-point lead into the locker room.

Richmond committed 12 of its 19 turnovers in the first half.

“It seemed like the long layoff caused us to come out a little sluggish,” Laton said. “We threw some careless passes, and we weren’t running our fastbreak, the way we should.”

The Raiders return to action today against Union Pines at Raider Gym with tipoff at 7:30 p.m.

n Contact sports reporter Corey Davis at 997-3111, ext. 44; e-mail cdavis@yourdailyjournal.com