Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Fans cheered, and little kids smiled. During halftime, four youngsters ran onto the court and started shooting hoops until they were asked to leave by the public address announcer.

Nothing seemed out of place.

On the Atlee bench sat only eight basketball players. One of them, Joey Copple, was a freshman called up from the JV to make his varsity debut. But even that wasn’t so out of the ordinary.

“We’ve dealt with personnel loss throughout the year,” Atlee coach Phil Reynolds said.
First there was Cole Sydnor, a talented JV player who was paralyzed last summer after a diving accident on the James River. Then Matt Rohr, who fractured his leg, and Conner Heerman, who sprained his knee.

But one more player was absent, Kevin Dray-ton, a senior guard who was arrested Monday along with two others and charged with the shooting death of Atlee sophomore Brett Wells.

Police say it was a drug deal gone awry that left Wells dead and another shot in the hand. Also charged with Drayton were Da’von Byars and Xavia Highsmith, both Richmond residents who attended Henrico High School.

Friday night, the Atlee Raiders played their first game without Drayton, a swingman regarded as a good defender and Atlee’s top scorer.

“He was our best all-around player,” Reynolds said.

Atlee (4-13, 3-7 Capital) was the latest team to get run over by Henrico’s torrid shooting ability. The No. 3 Warriors (17-1, 10-0) converted 65 percent from the field and defeated Atlee 116-59.

Timmy Jones and Jordon Talley scored 16 points each for Henrico. Thomas White, a transfer from Varina who joined the team about two weeks ago after finally being cleared by the VHSL, scored 15. Jay Allen had 15 as well.

Brian Ratchford led the Raiders with 18 points. Collin Bazemore had 10.

“They always are good,” Reynolds said of Henrico. “Under the best of circumstances, Henrico is that much better than us. They’ve done that to a lot of teams this year.”

Jacob Hurd, one Atlee’s two seniors, admitted practice felt different this week. But he was uplifted by the support shown by his church, the community and Atlee’s faculty. With only seven varsity players practicing this week, they had to lean on each other.

“We’ve gotten to be pretty tight,” Hurd said.

When the game finally arrived Friday night — At-lee hadn’t played all week because of exams — it was a release, an opportunity to forget about everything in the outside world and focus on basketball.

“Basketball is something I really look forward to,” Hurd said. “It’s really special for me.”
On the other end of the court, the Henrico Warriors tried not to dwell on the sadness of the situation. While the team looked and played as they would in any other game, the players remembered there was something more important, something that puts everything in perspective.

“When all is said and done, you realize it’s just a game,” Henrico coach Vance Harmon said.

Eric Kolenich is a staff writer for the Richmond Times Dispatch.