By RYAN ARENA

Sports Editor

Josh Tassin’s 23 points on Saturday night helped lead Riverside to a 63-34 win over Lutheran and a third place finish in the Ecole Classique tournament.

The Rebels’ hit six three pointers in a blistering first quarter in which Riverside (8-6) outscored Lutheran 24-9, setting the tempo for the game.

“We did a much better job than we had been coming out the gate,” said Riverside Coach Ben Wilson.

Kane Keller and Spencer Simon each scored nine points for Riverside.

The Rebels extended their lead to 40-16 at halftime, and Lutheran (1-7) never threatened.

“We really put together two halves of good basketball,” said Riverside Coach Ben Wilson. “We were really knocking down our shots.”

The win was Riverside’s third in the last five games.

Friday night’s tournament loss to E.D. White was almost the polar opposite of the Rebels’ win on Saturday. After taking a 20-13 lead into halftime, White (6-8) blew the game open in the third quarter. This time, it was the Cardinal that hit six threes and scored 26 points in a quarter.

The end result was that Riverside had too steep a hill to climb in the fourth quarter, as it trailed 46-25.

Wilson credited White’s physicality and offensive discipline as being key to the Cardinal building its lead.

“They had all kinds of momentum by then, and we struggled with it,” said Wilson. “We were in it at halftime, but in the second half we got away from what was working for us in the first half.”

Riverside will return to action today in familiar territory – it will host the Riverside Holiday Classic today through Saturday. The Rebels’ first round game will come against Grace King at 5:30 today.