OLD ORCHARD BEACH — Saturday’s Class C boys basketball clash between Old Orchard Beach and Richmond had it all. A large and vocal crowd, two talented teams, and emotions on both sides struggling to stay in check – it had all the feeling of a playoff game in February.

The host Seagulls proved they could handle the playoff-like atmosphere as they picked up a hard-fought 56-48 win over the Bobcats.

“We love it. We kind of feed off that intensity and just use it to our advantage,” said OOB senior Sam Custeau of Saturday’s playoff-like atmosphere.

Custeau, who finished with 11 points, was one of four Seagulls to score in double figures on Saturday.

OOB coach Mike Burke, who is in his first year, was happy to see a balanced scoring attack.

“I would argue that the box score never tells the whole story for us. We are playing for the name across our chests, not the name on the back of our jerseys,” said Burke. “I think if you look at any of our games, we are much better when we get three and four guys in double figures than we are when we have one or two.”

The game was tied at 12-12 after one quarter, but the Seagulls would slowly start taking control in the second quarter.

Sophomore Ian Regan scored five of his game-high 20 points in the second frame as the Seagulls took a 27-24 lead into the break.

OOB would go on to outscore the Bobcats 18-15 in the third to take a six-point lead into the final quarter.

In the fourth, the Seagulls stepped up on defense and held the Bobcats to just nine points as they secured the win.

According to Burke, the Seagulls have continued to improve on the defensive end – especially when it comes to the zone.

“I think at this point we are probably better when we play zone,” said Burke. “It’s something we work on, no question. It was taught to me by coach (Kevin) Jenkins at Gorham, and I’ve continued to tweak it to my liking and I’ve continued to teach it that way. These guys have really bought into it very well.”

Burke has been happy with how quickly the Seagulls have bought into his philosophy.

“I’ll tell you what, I’ll take my hat off to the guys in white for doing the things that we’ve talked about now for a number of weeks … things like being patient on offense, trying to get ourselves in spots where we take good shots, getting stops, come down, score and set up our defense from there,” said Burke.

Burke believes his squad is poised to make some noise down the stretch.

“I mean, at the end of the day, you want to be playing your best basketball in February, so this is kind of like the third quarter of the season, if you will. Every time we take the floor we want to make sure we get better … I think we are heading in the right direction, no question about it,” said Burke.

Senior Zach Hirst, who finished with 13 points on Saturday, believes the Seagulls are on the right track.

“I think we’re good. Like coach always says, we have to be playing our best basketball in February, so with the way it’s going right now, I think we’ll be there,” Hirst.

Both Hirst and Custeau believe Saturday’s win in a playoff-like atmosphere will only help their team.

“That was the biggest crowd we’ve had all season, maybe even last year, too … having a crowd like that means everything. I think if we can get used to it now, the (noise), the intensity of the crowd, it will help us come playoff time,” said Hirst.

“It will help us gain experience, especially for the young kids, and I think it will help us down the road,” added Custeau.

Burke credits some of the atmosphere to the scheduling of the varsity girls and boys teams together.

“I actually love these boy-girl doubleheaders and I think that contributes to the overall intensity and the playoff atmosphere,” said Burke.

NOTES: OOB also got 10 points from senior point guard Erik Hogan … Richmond was led by Zach Small with 19 points and Matt Rines with 18 points … OOB improved to 7-3 with the win, while Richmond dropped to 5-3 … The two teams will meet again in Richmond on Friday, Jan. 29.

— Sports Editor Pat McDonald can be reached at [email protected] or at 282-1535 ext. 322. Follow the Journal Tribune Sports Department on Twitter @JournalTsports.