RICHMOND — Inside and outside. The Buckfield boys basketball team had it all working in the second half of Tuesday’s Western Maine Class D boys’ high school preliminary basketball game against East-West Conference rival Richmond.

All the Bucks needed were a couple big stops on the defensive end, with Buckfield forward Keenan Stockdale owning the inside and guard Micah Madore draining 3-pointers in the offensive end.

However, Buckfield failed to get the stops it needed, as the eighth-seeded Bobcats held on for a 62-57 victory, sending Richmond (8-11) to the Augusta Civic Center for Saturday’s Western D quarterfinal against top-seeded Forest Hills (16-2) at 1 p.m.

No. 9 Buckfield closes the season with a 9-10 mark.

“It is very satisfying to have this chance, and to have reached the goal of making to Augusta is huge for us,” said Richmond coach Jonathan Spear.

Richmond, which led by as many as 12 points in the first half, watched Buckfield make several second-half charges, twice cutting the lead down to two. But, the Bucks watched Richmond make 10-of-14 free throws in the fourth quarter to close out the victory.

Trailing 23-11 after a Richmond 13-0 run, Buckfield chipped away at the lead by going inside to Stockdale, who scored nine points in the first half as the Bucks cut the deficit down to seven, 26-19 at the break.

“It gave us a little bit of hope going into the second half, and the flow of the game changed when we got the ball down low,” said Buckfield coach Chris Reed.

Richmond led 32-23 when Madore drove to the basket for two tough inside points. Madore was just getting started, as he found a spot he liked, draining three consecutive 3-pointers from the corner, the last getting the Bucks to 37-34 late in the third quarter.

“They threw a great wrinkle at us and were getting all their points from the inside, and then we doubled-down and they put the ball outside to Madore and he had a great game hitting those shots,” said Spear.

“Without Micah’s shots in the second half, we don’t make that run,” said Reed. “He played big roles in some games and smaller roles in others. He took it to the hole early in the second half and that set up things from there for him.”

“I don’t know what it was, but I was feeling it from there,” said Madore, who finished with 16 points, including his fourth trey with 50 seconds remaining in the game to get the Bucks to 58-54.

Richmond senior leader Randy Moody was fouled and made one of two to give the Bobcats a five-point lead, but Tyler Goyette answered with a layup and made one of two from the foul line at the other end to make it a two-point game, 59-57 with 32 second on the clock.

Jared Eastman’s steal gave Buckfield a chance to tie the game or take its first lead since 11-10 in the opening quarter, but a turnover and free throw by Sean Bernier made for a 60-57 Richmond lead.

Buckfield had one more chance, but Eastman’s 3-point attempt was long, and Moody made two free throws to ice it.

“He certainly stepped up and they were incredibly huge foul shots,” said Spear after watching Moody scored a team-high 17 points in the win. “Randy has worked on his free-throw shooting all year. We talked before the game, and I told him he had to step up and be that guy. Tonight he certainly was.”

“In practice we have struggled with free throws, and we have worked on it a lot, so it was great to make those shots,” said Moody, who added seven rebounds, six steals and four assists. “We have struggled when teams have given us a punch and we don’t hit them back. But, today we did answer and that was big.”

Stockdale led Buckfield with 17 points before fouling out with 3:09 remaining. Goyette chipped in 10 points, while Eastman had eight. Buckfield shot 35 percent (21 of 60) from the floor and made 10 of 22 at the foul line. Jonah Williams pulled down 10 rebounds in the loss.

Eddie Stewart scored nine of his 11 points in the first half and pulled down eight rebounds for Richmond, while Bernier and Jason Patterson picked up 10 points each. Tyler Soucy came off the bench to add six points, while Mike Stewart contributed five.

“We had great moments from freshman Tyler Soucy, and Eddie Stewart played a great game. It was more heart than I have seen us play with all year,” said Spear.

The Bobcats were 21 of 46 (45 percent) from the floor and 16 of 31 at the charity stripe.

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