AUGUSTA – Whether it was the early morning start time or a case of the dreaded tournament jitters, the Richmond boys’ basketball team was out of sorts early in their Western Class D quarterfinal against Elan on Saturday morning.

The game started at 8:30 a.m., and Richmond managed just nine points in the first quarter. But the Bobcats started to put it together in the second, took the lead for good late in the third and pulled away in the fourth for a 49-34 win at the Augusta Civic Center.

“We were really helter skelter at the beginning of the game, just running round,” Richmond senior guard Mike Christie said. “Everyone made a big deal about this team, but we felt we could play with them any day of the week.”

No. 3 Richmond (14-4) advances to play No. 2 Greenville, which beat Valley, 68-67. No. 6 Elan ends the season 16-3.

The Bobcats trailed 12-9 after the first quarter and 22-19 at halftime but went on a 6-0 run to take a 33-30 run into the fourth quarter. Richmond cruised from there, as Wade Tuttle scored eight of his nine points and Mike Christie had six of his 13.

Christie hit four straight foul shots after Elan’s Talin Rowe was whistled for his fourth foul and a technical with a little less than two minutes left. Richmond also scored on the ensuing possession to take a 45-32 lead.

Christie finished 8 for 8 from the foul line.

Not only did the Bobcats get into a flow offensively later in the game, they were also able to contain Elan’s leading scorer, Jack Peters. The athletic guard scored seven points in the first quarter but managed just eight the rest of the way.

Peters was averaging 20 points and 11 rebounds, but he was slowed by a mixture of Christie’s man-to-man defense and a zone.

Richmond center Kyle O’Brien finished with 14 points and 10 rebounds. Tom Carter added 11 points and seven rebounds.