AUBURN – With 4.2 seconds on the clock and the largest crowd of the young season on hand and cheering loudly, Justin Richardson walked away from the St. Dom’s team huddle.

Taking a breath, he stooped, put his hands on his knees and looked skyward.

“I felt sick,” Richardson said. “Then, I thought about what this would mean to the team, how big a win this would be for us.”

Trailing 60-59, Richardson’s free throws would likely decide this boys’ basketball game, and he knew it.

“I sent him out of the huddle during the timeout,” said St. Dom’s coach Dan DeBruin. “We all had confidence in him, and he knew that. I just didn’t want him hearing us talk about what would happen if he missed. I had my two best rebounders in there, though, just in case.”

They were not needed on that play. Richardson sank both freebies, giving him 30 points for the night, and Andrew Gilbert sealed a hard-fought 61-60 win for the Saints with a steal in the defensive end as time expired at St. Dom’s Callahan Gym.

Richardson was on fire in the first three quarters, draining seven three-point shots and a handful of field goals.

“I talked to him a bit (Monday night),” said DeBruin. “He’s been struggling the last couple of games finding the range on his shot, and I told him (Monday) night to just go out and relax and that he’d have a good shooting night. Right from the start, he hit a couple of threes early, and from that point you could just see the confidence.”

“I didn’t think he could hit from that deep,” said Buckfield coach Cam Cowett. “When I saw him out there, I told my kids to leave him alone and let him throw those up. Then they started going in all over the place. He had a good night.”

Gilbert also had a big night with 12 assists, while Andrew Allen chipped in with 17 points and 13 rebounds.

“The offense is obviously designed around him,” said DeBruin, “with the high screen to get him open at the top.”

It nearly was a great game for naught from Richardson, however, as the Saints (3-2) let a 12-point, fourth-quarter lead disappear in the last 4:17.

Jamie Donahue put in a rebound to give the Saints that cushion at 56-44, but Buckfield clawed back. Justin Dodge hit a long three from the left side and Jared Martin followed with a lay-in to pull the Bucks (4-4) within seven. Sean Ridge hit two free throws as the Bucks closed within five, and after Donahue hit one of two free throws for St. Dom’s, Buckfield rattled off seven more consecutive points to take its first lead of the game, 58-57.

Allen hit his second basket of the final frame with 34 seconds left to wrest the lead back from the Bucks, but Martin again hit a clutch shot, a fadeaway jumper from the left wing with 15 seconds on the clock.

As Richardson drove the lane on the Saints’ ensuing possession and he was fouled, bringing him to the line for his two final shots.

“I felt kind of weird in warm-ups, because I was missing all my shots,” said Richardson. “Once I got out there, though, the game started to flow. It was a good win for us, for the team. The Heal Points are going to help us a lot. Once I made that first one, I knew I had to make the second.”

St. Dom’s never trailed from the outset, and had the lead up to 12 in the fourth quarter. Richardson drained three of his 3-pointers in the first quarter, two in the second and another two in the third.

Martin led the Bucks with 14 points, including two 3-pointers, while Danny Hayes and Jeff Bennett chipped in with 12 points each.