RICHMOND

As cold as it was outside, the Richmond High School gym would’ve made even Jack Frost proud.

The host Bobcats had big problems around the basket, shot 13 for 54 (2-for- 23 from 3-point land) from the floor, and fell to visit Machias 35-32 in Class D boys basketball action on Saturday.

Machias (3-0) led 28-20 entering the fourth quarter for its biggest advantage of the afternoon.

And, this is where the Bobcats made things interesting.

A drive and follow-up free throw just six seconds in by Richmond’s Cameron Emmons cut the deficit to 28-23.

Later, a Brendan Emmons trey with 5:18 left cut the lead to 30-28 and a putback by Mike Stewart made it 31-30 Machias with 3:45 remaining.

Machias’ James Mersereau layed in an offensive rebound with 1:55 left and Logan Wood made two free throws for a 35-30 lead with 1:10 showing on the clock.

A basket by Richmond’s Stewart cut it to 35-32 and wild, frantic final seconds produced several 3-point attempts to no avail.

Stewart wound up with seven points and Cameron Emmons and Matt Holt added six each.

Machias had but three players score, led by Wood with 17, Mersereau 10 (five down the stretch) and Mark Anthony eight.

At the foul line, Richmond was just four of five and Machias seven of 15.

First-quarter blues

Neither team came out inspired in a first quarter that produced ties of 2, 4, 6 and 9.

Machias was led by Mersereau, who hit the offensive boards hard. Machias led 16-12 at the half with the hosts led by a Cameron Emmons 3-pointer.

“We had a lot of looks,” said Richmond coach Jon Spear. “And, they certainly weren’t going in like we wanted them to.

“But, I can’t fault them … they kept shooting. We’ve just got to find our way out of that little slump.”

“Its funny when we came out in the third quarter I was looking for a sense of urgency. We didn’t quite get it from them at that point, but we finally started fighting back in the fourth quarter, which was good to see. A good finish, but we just couldn’t quite pull it off.”

Richmond fell to 2-2 and visits Pine Tree Academy on Wednesday, which is a change from the original Jan. 21 date.

RICHMOND 51

GREENVILLE 64

In E-W action on Friday, Howie Stone poured in 35 points to lead the Lakers past the Bobcats.

Greenville (2-1) posted quarterly leads of 17-9, 37-19 and 50-30.

Freshman Holt paced Richmond with 10 points, while Tyler Soucy added eight and Cody Tribbett five to go along with a strong floor game.

At the foul line, Richmond was 19 of 37 and Greenville 20 of 28.

“They came out and pressed us right off the bat,” said Spear. “We had a little trouble getting the ball up the court and we had a bunch of turnovers. Once we got into the second half and calmed down a bit, we played a lot better. And Stone had a great night for them … he couldn’t miss from inside.”