Tournament time is right around the corner but some teams still have a lot of work to do until then, particularly Richmond.

With Thursday’s game against Seacoast Christian, the Bobcats began a seven-day stretch in which they will play six games, one-third of their schedule.

Weather permitting, the grueling stretch continues with a game in Rangeley on Friday. Fortunately for the Bobcats, that will be their last road game. They finish the season at home against Buckfield on Monday, North Yarmouth Academy on Tuesday, Valley on Wednesday and Class C team Old Orchard Beach on Thursday.

“With the MPA’s permission, we have the ability to go into Friday if we need to,” said Richmond coach Jon Spear, who was anticipating another postponement Friday after the game against Valley had to be rescheduled twice due to this week’s blizzard.

“I’ve never had a team go through something like this before,” he added. “Fortunately, we know these teams. We know what our plan is going into the game.”

Richmond, which has not played Old Orchard this year, is 2-3 against the other five opponents, with wins over Rangeley and Buckfield.

The Bobcats are relatively healthy heading into the stretch drive, having endured the annual bugs and viruses a couple of weeks ago. Spear plans to manage his players’ minutes and use his team’s depth to help get through the stretch.

Spear has let his players know there’s plenty of incentive to go all out to win each game because many of the opponents are worth considerable Heal points. A strong finish could help the Bobcats, who were 8-4 going into Thursday night’s game, move up from the middle of the Western D pack and go into the tournament with some momentum and confidence.

“Once you get into the tournament, you’re not going to have an easy game. Everybody is going to be fighting for it. So this is great preparation for that,” he said.

Spear is pleased with his team’s development this season. Senior point guard Cameron Emmons is the spark plug and sophomores Cody Tribbet and Matt Holt have emerged as scoring threats. But the Bobcats haven’t been overly-reliant on any one or two players for production.

“We’ve got six or seven guys who can catch fire and lead people in scoring on a particular night,” Spear said. “It’s fun to see who’s going to step up every night.”

• • •

Pro Football Hall of Fame coach Bill Parcells once said “You are what your record says you are.”

With his team 8-7 heading into Thursday night’s game with Madison, Monmouth coach Lucas Turner can relate.

“I think we’re right where our level of play is,” he said. “Everybody who’s ahead of us in our conference, we haven’t beat. We’ve given them some tough games, or some tough quarters in some cases. But we haven’t won. And everyone that’s behind us in our conference, we’ve beat, with the exception of the second game against St. Dom’s.”

The Mustangs wouldn’t mind breaking that pattern with a win over Madison, then have it return to form again next week with wins over Wiscasset and Telstar, which would give them a three-game winning streak heading into the tournament. If they can do that, they will match last year’s regular-season record despite returning just two starters.

Turner said the lack of varsity experience was apparent early in the season, but the team’s basketball IQ has grown a great deal over the last two months. Players are on the same page more and have a better feel for Turner’s concepts on offense.

“There’s less of me talking in practice and more of them playing,” he said.

The younger players have been feeling more comfortable in games, too, which has been crucial lately as senior captain Kasey Smith has been under the weather.

• • •

The final week of the regular season features enough matchups that could significantly change the playoff picture for a number of teams. Gardiner will need all of the points it can muster to have a shot at a first-round bye in the Eastern B tournament. The Tigers visit Spruce Mountain on Friday, host Waterville on Tuesday, then end the season at Maranacook on Thursday. Cony’s home and season finale with Edward Little next Tuesday could be crucial to the Rams’ hopes for a bye to the Eastern A quarterfinals. In Western C, Winthrop travels to Boothbay on Monday in a game that will likely decide the top seed and the Mountain Valley Conference championship matchup. Hall-Dale has a chance to move up if it can upset Dirigo in its season finale on Wednesday in Dixfield.

Randy Whitehouse — 621-5638

rwhitehouse@mainetoday.com

Twitter: @RAWmaterial33

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