WISCASSET — Entering the 2018-19 boys high school basketball season, Richmond coach Phil Houdlette knew it was going to be difficult replacing the points that graduated with his seniors from a year ago, most notably Zach Small and Matt Rines. Through the first 11 games, the Bobcats have not been able to find that one consistent scorer that you know will put in 20 points.
Sophomore Caleb Densmore took a big step towards grabbing some of those points Thursday, scoring a game-high 30 points, including a dozen in the fourth quarter as the Bobcats took down Wiscasset, 66-47 in Mountain Valley Conference play.
“We’ve struggled a little bit this year offensively,” Densmore said. “We’re all just trying to find our rhythm. It’s hard to replace those points from Matt and Zach.”
Richmond, coming off its second win of the season against Telstar on Tuesday night was contested by the Wolverines (1-11) early on.
The two squads traded baskets throughout the first quarter, and with Richmond leading 6-4, Wiscasset’s Billy Pinkham drained a 3-point basket to pull the Wolverines ahead.
Dakotah Gilpatric and Densmore put Richmond back in the lead before a Chris Loyola bucket knotted the score at 10, but a Kenny Bing basket gave the visitors a 12-10 lead after one quarter, despite turning the ball over seven times in the opening frame. The Bobcats outrebounded Wiscasset 12-5 in the first eight minutes.
“If we don’t do a team effort and hit the boards with offensive rebounds and grab those defensive rebounds and push the ball, we don’t score. That’s how we’re going to score this year,” Houdlette said.
Richmond continued to struggle with keeping the ball and turned the ball over a half dozen times in the second quarter, and the Wolverines capitalized.
Senior Matt Chapman took control underneath, hauling in five offensive rebounds, while netting nine of Wiscasset’s 14 second-quarter points.
The score stood at 51-38 through 24 minutes of play.
Densmore put the exclamation point on the game in the fourth with his 10 points, while hitting a pair of free throws and securing his 10th rebound of the game in the win.
“I think there is a lot of potential here,” Houdlette said. “It’s all on them and how hard they want to work. If they work, and come to play, I can handle that. It’s when they don’t show up and the effort isn’t there, that’s tough.”
Adams finished with 12 points, while Bing ended his night with 11 points and seven rebounds for Richmond.
Wiscasset was led by Chapman’s 19 points before fouling out in the fourth, while Loyola followed with 12 and Pinkham registered nine in the loss.
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