By RYAN ARENA

L’Observateur

It was a surreal experience for local basketball fans in attendance at a jam-packed Riverside gym on Monday night.

So many new, yet familiar faces adorned the Rebel basketball team. 13 transplants from now defunct Reserve Christian adorned the basketball team, along with five returning players from last year’s Riverside squad. Former Reserve Timmy Byrd walked the sidelines as their coach.

What may have been most familiar to former Eagle fans was what Rebel fans will likely soon grow accustomed to – Riverside trouncing an overmatched opponent.

This time it was Covington, which fell 95-74 in the season debut for both teams.

“It’s a perfect fit for everyone,” said Byrd, who was hired as the school’s athletic director this past spring. “These Riverside fans are very, very passionate. It was a great environment tonight, and it will only get better from here.”

Louis Dabney led all scorers with 25 points. Ed Gallina added 19, Cedric Jenkins 17, and Ricardo Gathers scored 15 to lead Riverside (1-0).

Philip Bickman led Covington (0-1) with 21 points. Jordan Bedford added 18.

The Rebels – and specifically Gathers — got the crowd rolling early.

The 6-7 center quickly scored the first six points of the game – the second coming on a dunk from an alley-oop pass from Jenkins, the third a jam in transition.

“We had to get it going early,” said Gathers with a smile. “Some of the fans haven’t seen anything like this.”

Kyle McClue added a bucket and a foul shot to put Riverside ahead 9-0, but Covington scratched its way back to make it competitive for awhile. Bickham and Bedford combined for 25 of Covington’s 31 first half points, including four 3-pointers to keep things close.

“I didn’t think we played very good defense,” said Byrd. “Their guards are very good and quick though. They did a good job.”

A Bedford bucket made it 35-31 late in the half, but Reserve ended the half on a run. First, McClue drilled a 3. Then Lucas Gallina’s shot was ruled good on a goaltend.

Finally, Josh Tassin’s 3-pointer with time winding down ended an 8-0 RA run to finish the half.

Tassin and teammate Kane Keller, both seniors who played with Riverside throughout their careers, each played heavily in the rotation.

“Those two, 15 and 12, they’re very good players,” said Byrd. “All the players on this team respect them, and they’re going to be significant contributors to our success.”

Covington stayed within striking distance in the third quarter, but Riverside wasted no time blowing things open in the fourth. With the score 61-50, a Jenkins layup and jumper propelled the Rebels on a quick 6-0 run to push the lead to 17.

Covington would get no closer than 13 the rest of the way.

Dabney scored 13 points in the fourth quarter to help the Rebels push toward the win.

“Coach fussed at me, he told he I wasn’t playing hard enough,” said Dabney. “It just put in my head, lets play harder. And we did. We wanted it more, and we closed it out on defense.”

Even on the heels of a blowout, Byrd said he sees better days on the horizon.

“I thought the kids weren’t relaxed tonight. They were hyped up, and it showed on both ends.”