AUGUSTA — Whether it was the early morning start time or a case of the dreaded tournament jitters, the Richmond boys’ basketball team was out of sorts early in their Western Class D quarterfinal against Elan on Saturday morning.
The game started at 8:30 a.m., and Richmond managed just nine points in the first quarter. But the Bobcats started to put it together in the second, took the lead for good late in the third and pulled away in the fourth for a 49-34 win at the Augusta Civic Center.
“We were really helter skelter at the beginning of the game, just running round,” Richmond senior guard Mike Christie said. “Everyone made a big deal about this team, but we felt we could play with them any day of the week.”
No. 3 Richmond (14-4) advances to play No. 2 Greenville, which beat Valley 68-67. No. 6 Elan ends the season 16-3.
The Bobcats trailed 12-9 after the first quarter and 22-19 at halftime but went on a 6-0 run to take a 33-30 run into the fourth quarter. Richmond cruised from there, as Wade Tuttle scored eight of his nine points and Mike Christie had six of his 13.
Christie hit four straight foul shots after Elan’s Talin Rowe was whistled for his fourth foul and a technical with a little less than two minutes remaining. Richmond also scored on the ensuing possession to take a 45-32 lead.
Christie finished 8 for 8 from the foul line.
“We just came out a little flat,” Richmond senior forward Tom Carter said. “It’s just so different playing here. The backboards are clear. The fans.”
Not only did the Bobcats get into a flow offensively later in the game, they were also able to contain Elan’s leading scorer, Jack Peters. The athletic guard scored seven points in the first quarter but managed just eight the rest of the way.
Peters was averaging 20 points and 11 rebounds, but he was slowed by a mixture of Christie’s man-to-man defense and a zone.
“Jack is a great player and I thought what little man-to-man we did play, Mike did a good job on him,” Richmond Coach Phil Houdlette said. “We got into a little bit of foul trouble with (Christie), so we had to sit in a zone, but we had been told that if you sit in a zone that they would have some struggles out of that.”
Richmond started slow, as Elan played a zone of its own, focusing on Richmond center Kyle O’Brien. The Bobcats were patient against the zone, trying to get the ball to O’Brien, who scored seven of his 14 points in the first quarter. Houdlette felt they were a little too patient.
“After they decided ‘I can drive, I can shoot,’ that brought (Elan) out a little bit,” Houdlette said. “And that freed up our big guys underneath.”
O’Brien finished with 14 points and 10 rebounds. Carter added 11 points and seven rebounds.
Peters led Elan with 15 points, while Steve Kelley chipped in with 10.
Scott Martin — 621-5618
smartin@centralmaine.com
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