A few observation following Richmond's Class D state championship appearance Saturday.

The growth of the Richmond basketball team this season occurred steadily throughout the season. As junior guard Eric Murrin explained after his team lost to 49-43 to Woodland, "no one expected us to be here."
Murrin was referring to the beginning of the season, and why not? The Bobcats graduated their 6-foot-10 center, Marc Zaharchuk, and a point guard who started three years in Brandon Lancaster. They began the season bickering at one another, but came together prior to midseason and took off from there.
"There was one game where we just stopped yelling at each other, like 'all right, we're going to work together' " Murrin said. 'This is what it's going to be, we're going to be a family,' because we're been playing basketball since I can't remember."
• Six-foot-five sophomore Kyle O'Brien went from a preseason project to big-time contributor. Saturday, he showed veteran poise in scoring 10 points and grabbing six rebounds in a reserve role.
• First-year Richmond coach Phil Houdlette managed was able to give three starters a rest for the last two minutes of the third quarter and get away with it. His team was outscored 3-2 over that span and entered the fourth quarter ready to go.
• Woodland point guard Chad James is listed at 5-foot-9 but he's more like 5-7. The senior used his exceptional quickness to get into the lane, or fake drives and pull up for 3-pointers. Houdlette made a nice adjustment in the second half by instructing his guards to pick James up at the 3-point arc rather than five or six feet beyond it as they had done in the first half. It worked as they limited his drives to the basket while holding him to seven points in the second half.
• Richmond graduates three seniors $ Matt Brown, Eric Curtis and Josh Brown $ but the Bobcats return nearly all their scorers and should be a favorite to win their third straight Western Maine regional title next season.