Richmond boys basketball bounces back yet again with win over Muncie Central
RICHMOND, Ind. — After three straight losses during the first month of the season, the Red Devils earned a big home win over Jac-Cen-Del.
The following week, they lost two more games, but they turned it around just in time to go 3-1 in the Bob Wettig Memorial Tournament.
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Even in the tournament, they played their best game of the week after losing in the semifinals.
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Adversity was at it again Friday. Dropping their last two games — one in overtime — by seven points each, the Red Devils were in danger of a second three-game losing streak in as many months.
“We understand the X’s and O’s. We understand what to do. We’ve just got to go out there and do it,” head coach Billy Wright said. “We had our chances against New Castle. We had our chances at McCutcheon. We watched film, we learned from it and we didn’t want to let it happen again tonight.”
Richmond did not let it happen again, as it used a balanced scoring attack and a 21-point fourth quarter to pull away with a 67-56 win over Muncie Central.
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Eight different Red Devils scored Friday, led by freshman Mason Carpenter with 18 points and senior Stephan Douglas with 16. Sophomore Deante Smith and freshman Cedric Horton-Hogg added nine points apiece.
Senior Chase Newton said putting together a full game of quality basketball is what got the team over the hump.
“We played good for all 32 minutes,” he said. “Sometimes, we have moments when we play bad basketball for two or three minutes and the other team comes back. I feel like we finished out the second half strong and played for all 32 minutes.”
The fourth-quarter push has become a staple of this Richmond team. In their last five wins, the Red Devils have outscored opponents by a total of 43 points in the fourth quarter. Wright said winning gets a lot easier when late-game execution — making free throws, taking care of the ball, etc. — is working.
“When it’s winning time, you have to get stops and you have to step up and make plays,” he said. “When you don’t do that, it’s hard to close out games. When you do do that, like we did tonight, you give yourself a greater chance to win.”
Wright added that his players’ determination speaks to the culture of the program. They’re “competitors,” and they will bring the fight no matter the opponent or scenario, especially when the game is on the line or their reputation is at stake.
That said, it’s always nice when you don’t have to bounce back from setbacks, but that’s not how the Red Devils think.
“We don’t want our backs against the wall, but, if our backs are against the wall, we’ve got to get off the wall,” Douglas said. “We can’t have those stretches of two or three minutes where we don’t step on their necks and they come back to tie the game when we were up by 10. We can’t have that.”
Playing in these kinds of games and situations only helps players grow, Wright said. While it would help ease some stress to win every game in blowout fashion, his team will be better in the long run because that hasn’t been the case.
“We want to be playing our best basketball by March,” Wright said. “By then, hopefully, we’ll be battle-tested.”
Following a Jan. 15 contest at Greenfield-Central, Richmond will host Bowman Academy Jan. 22.
Zach Piatt reports on sports and education for The Palladium-Item. Contact him at zpiatt@gannett.com or on Twitter @zachpiatt13.
This article originally appeared on Richmond Palladium-Item: Richmond basketball bounces back again with win over Muncie Central
