Trojans fall to Raymond in first round playoff game

Published 8:05 am Wednesday, February 18, 2026

By Brandon Shields

RAYMOND — The two-time defending state champions are moving on.

Behind a stingy defense along with a balanced offensive attack Raymond got past Northeast Lauderdale 81-52 in the First Round of the MHSAA Boys Class 4A basketball playoffs on Tuesday night.

The Rangers (24-7) will host South Pike in the second round on Saturday.

“It was a good win over a good Northeast team. They’re a solid team and the Lightsey kid is a tough scorer and is one of the better scorers in 4A,” said Raymond coach Tony Tadlock. “We’re just glad to get a win tonight and move onto the next round.”

Raymond never trailed the entire game.

The Rangers jumped out to a 13-5 lead to begin the game and held a 15-9 lead at the end of the first quarter.

The second quarter is when Raymond begin to separate themselves as they went on a 12-4 run to end the first half to take a 36-22 lead at halftime.

A 8-2 run by the Rangers to begin the third quarter extended the Raymond lead out to 44-24 and from that point their lead never got below 18 points.

Melvin Rhodes had a game-high 16 points to lead Raymond, while Nick Turner and Nick Jones each added 12 points for the Rangers.

“We pride ourselves on man-to-man defense and that each year that has been our stable. If you’re going to win in late February and early March you have to be able to do a good job of playing man-to-man,” Tadlock said. “They did a good job early getting some open three’s, but when it came down to it we got enough stops to get the win. This time of here it’s about survive and advance and thankful we were home tonight and get to be back here Saturday.”

Bobby Mason and Steven Lightsey each had 13 points to lead Northeast Lauderdale. The Trojans ended the season 11-16.

“Raymond is strong, deep, and a lot of experience. Steven carried us early and they just wore him down,” said Northeast Lauderdale coach Lewis Lightsey. “We wanted our guys to get this experience against a really good team in this type of environment because we want to be like that next year. We’re a young group, so we will learn and be better from it.”