RICHMOND

After a slow start to Monday night’s high school boys basketball game, Richmond came out firing in the second half and tied the score with just 1:54 left to go in the final quarter.

But, as they did in the first half, sloppy turnovers burned the Bobcats down the stretch, where Searsport took the ball away three times and hit eight consecutive free throws to close out the game, 47-39.

“It’s mental toughness when it comes down to the end of the game,” Richmond head coach Jonathan Spear said. “Making sure that we’re all on the game plan together and not losing our heads. It came down to the end and we lost our heads a little bit. We didn’t stay mentally tough.”

“Late in the game, they worked hard and they wanted it more,” Richmond forward Zach Small said. “We’ve got to work on closing out the games. That’s our weak point.”

Richmond (4-2) fell behind 11-5 to open the game, but saw a six-point deficit cut to four on a Zack Marseglia buzzer-beater before the halftime break. Small, who put up a double-double with 18 points and 11 boards, took the reigns to begin the third quarter, hitting three 3- pointers in the first four minutes as part of an 11-4 run.

“Zach (Small) is a huge guy for us. He gets into a little bit of space and gets that look in his eye and he wants to shoot it. Him being able to step up and a put a couple down made them spread out a little bit more,” Spear said.

The Bobcats held a narrow one-point lead heading into the fourth quarter, but Searsport (5-4) took advantage of 14 home-side turnovers, reaching the free-throw line 20 times and sinking

15 of them. Half of those attempts came in the game’s final stretch — there were no field goals attempts in the final two minutes of regulation.

“They’re a tough team because they look to drive. They’re very good at driving and when you step up and try and help out, they’re very quick getting that ball out and hitting the open three,” Spear said of Searsport. “That presents some challenges right there. They’re a physical team and you’ve got to be ready to bring your A-game and push around a little bit too.”

Leading the way for the Vikings was forward Barrett Grant, who led all scorers with 22 points. Bryce Shorey had 12 points as part of a 37- percent shooting night for Searsport.

Richmond hit 33 percent of its shots from the floor, and took just eight charity-stripe attempts, dropping five.

The Bobcats’ game plan in the second half was to pressure Searsport high and slow it down offensively.

“We wanted to put the pressure on them,” Spear said. “We wanted to step up and make it more difficult for them so they couldn’t just step up their flex offense and have 24 driving down on us. We wanted to make them have to make a play off the dribble and things like that.”

“We basically just said work harder and get the open shot,” Small said. “Look to get the ball inside and open the shots up on the outside.”

It worked to an extant, forcing six second-half turnovers (11 overall), but it was the Searsport defense that controlled the play, holding Richmond to just six fourth-quarter points on two field goals.

Grant added 13 of his 22 late, hitting a big 3-pointer at the end of the third and taking six free-throw attempts in the second half.

After making his first three 3-pointer tries, Smalls missed the next four while attempting to cut the lead. Spear said his team sometimes relies too heavily on the outside shot.

“We were trying to concentrate on somewhat of an inside-out game,” Spear said. “We were trying to get the ball in first.”

Richmond has a pair of games coming up this weekend, first hosting Forest Hills on Friday at 6:30 p.m. then traveling to Old Orchard Beach on Saturday at 1 p.m.

Searsport 47, Richmond 39

Monday, at Richmond High School
Searsport — 12 10 10 15 — 47
Richmond — 10 8 15 6 — 39

Searsport — Connor Kneeland 1-0-3, Eric
Phillips 2-0-4, Barrett Grant 6-9-24, Cody
Parks 1-0-2, Bryce Shorey 3-5-12, Ben
Powell 1- 1- 3, Liam MacMillan 0- 0- 0.
Totals — 14-15-47.
Richmond — Cody Tribbet 0-0-0, Tyler
Soucy 0-0-0, Matt Holt 5-0-10, Brendan
Emmons 1-0-3, Zach Small 6-3-18, Matt
Rines 3-0-6, Zack Marseglia 1-0-2. Totals
— 16-3-39.
3-point field goals — (S) Connor Kneeland, Barrett Grant 2, Bryce Shorey; (R)
Zach Small 3, Brendan Emmons.
Records — Searsport 5-4, Richmond 4-2
Up next for the Bobcats — Friday at
home against Forest Hills, 7 p.m.