You've played eight minutes, and you're trailing by 16 points to a basketball team that considers the court in question to be its vacation home. This game is very close to becoming just another in Valley's long line of Augusta Civic Center victories.
If you don't act fast, Richmond, you'll just be another statistic spit out by the Cavalier basketball machine.
"You've got to watch Valley up here. This is their building," Richmond senior Sam Carter said. "They run this floor, and they have for a while. They're a good team."
Do you let that lump in your throat get bigger? Do you panic?
Naaahhh. You're a senior at Richmond High School, and when you include basketball, soccer and baseball, this is the 10th regional championship game of your career. You've been here before.
The only surprising thing about your 61-57 comeback win is that you didn't need the whole game to take the lead. Down 16 points after a quarter, you barely needed four minutes to go ahead.
For the boys who play basketball, soccer and baseball in Richmond's Class of 2008, next Saturday's Class D state championship basketball game is the sixth of their high school career. The Bobcats have won three consecutive Western Maine soccer crowns, and they won the state championship last fall. They reached the baseball title game in 2006 and played in the basketball final that same year.
So you don't panic. Maybe your coach does, a little.
"I was panicking," Richmond coach Paul Lancaster said. "They've been here. They've lost those games, too. They don't want to lose, and neither does Valley, but when you're a senior and there's no tomorrow, you cannot leave anything in the locker room."
Added senior guard Brandon Lancaster: "We know eventually (shots) will start going down, and once they did, we made our big comeback."
Lancaster averaged 14 points per game in the regular season and 19 in the first two games of the tournament. He was held to three points Saturday by Valley, but Carter scored 23 and Walter Miller, another senior, added 14.
The route was different, but Bobcats still reached their desired destination.
"We've got a lot of depth and we've got a lot of guys who can step up and make some baskets. So once they try and target on one of us, someone else is going to get wide open and going to hit their shots. We've got confidence in everyone who plays," Brandon Lancaster said.
Now, they Bobcats face a Central Aroostook team that beat them in the state basketball championship two years ago. A basketball title would cap a strong run by this class.
"Basketball would mean the most, if we could win this," said Carter, the most unlikely tournament hero in recent memory. "I realized I needed to hit the shots because they were leaving me wide open. If I didn't hit them, we weren't going to score. When one player steps down, another has to step up."
Brandon Lancaster thought about his school's trophy case. It's full of soccer hardware, but there's only one gold basketball, and it's 22 years old. Richmond's only boys basketball title came in 1986.
"It'd be great to get the basketball (title). Our school only has one state basketball championship. We have a ton of soccer ones. That basketball one would be a big step," he said. "We're going to have to work really hard and hopefully we'll be able to pull it off."
Do you panic? When the final horn sounds, the lump in your throat disappears completely when you cheer for joy.
Travis Lazarczyk -- 861-9242
tlazarczyk@centralmaine.com
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