Rickards Boys Basketball Tops Godby, Advances to Regional Finals

On Feb. 17, the Rickards (17-10) boys basketball team hosted Godby (18-7) in the FHSAA 4A Regional semi-finals for their second post season matchup this year. These two teams met up three times before in the 2024-25 season with Rickards winning two games in the regular season and Godby coming out on top in the district championship.

Both teams started the game off very well defensively but could not get into a rhythm on offense. Godby led Rickards 12-7 at the end of the first quarter. In the second quarter Rickards implemented a full court press that helped change momentum favoring the Raiders. Rickards took their first lead of the game at the beginning of the second quarter leading 14-12 and went into halftime up 22-14 after Lazarus Chambers (Jr.) banked in a long three as the first half expired.

Godby made a run of their own to get within three points at the end of the third quarter. At the beginning of the fourth quarter the Cougars tied it up at 28 after a crucial 3-point play. Although Godby was up 4 points with 3 minutes to go, Rickards took back the lead with a couple of fast break points holding off the Cougars in a 41-38 win.

Notable performances for Rickards included Romie Cosby (Sr.) leading the team with 17 points and Calvin Thomas (Jr.) with 16 points. Notable performances from Godby include Logan Rose (Sr.) leading the team with 15 points and Jaden Staten (Jr.) with 13 points.

Rickards advances to the regional final where they will play Ribault on Feb. 20.