By RYAN ARENA

L’Observateur

HOUSTON – Coming off of a program-defining win over powerhouse Christian Life-Houston on Friday night at the St. Pius Invitational, Riverside was ready to take it one step further on Saturday – the Rebels sought to tackle the Yates Lions, the top-ranked team in the country by MaxPreps.com.

Only one small problem: this game never tipped off.

In a bizarre circumstance, Yates declined to send its varsity onto the floor for the scheduled game, instead seeking to play it’s junior varsity against the Rebels, according to RA coach Timmy Byrd.

“I’ve never seen or heard anything like that in 15 years of coaching,” said Byrd.

The Rebels declined the game against Yates’ junior varsity.

Byrd said that games against top foes like Yates and Christian Life were the reason his team made the trek to Houston for the tournament.

A virtual exhibition game against the Lions’ junior varsity wasn’t the expectation – nor was it acceptable to Byrd or his players.

“The bottom line is they refused to put their varsity out there to play us,” said Byrd. “We were very, very disappointed.”

Yates coach Greg Wise was unavailable for comment.

Fans in attendance for the game, which was the final featured game of the round robin tourney, were refunded.

Byrd said he took the gym microphone to address the event’s disappointed fans.

“I told them that this had never happened to us before, that we came from Louisiana to play the best … not a JV team,” said Byrd. “And they gave us a standing ovation. They were really looking forward to the game. Everyone was disappointed over this. It was unfortunate, and it cost the tournament a lot of money.”

Yates ascended from the No. 4 national ranking on MaxPreps.com to No. 1 last week. The Lions average over 130 points a game and boast a perfect record.

But fresh off of the Christian Life win, Riverside was unphased, Byrd said.

“I feel like we have the guard play to handle their press, and we play defense,” said Byrd. “We watched film and prepared for them. We were highly confident, and everyone that talks to us thought we had a good shot.”

But it never came to be.

“It seems like they didn’t want to take a chance of getting beat,” Byrd said. “I think they saw us play on Friday night and figured out a way to get out of it.”

RIVERSIDE 73, ST. PIUS CATHOLIC 62 – Before the game against Yates, the Rebels faced off with host St. Pius and came away with their second win at the tournament.

Donald Thomas scored 17 to lead the way. Lucas Gallina scored 15. John Lewis chipped in 11 as did Franklin Francois.

Trey Guidry led St. Pius with 19.

The Rebels (9-2) rested their starters during the game, the intent being to keep them fresh for the potential matchup with Yates.

“We played pretty well. St. Pius is a pretty good team, and to win with our second team was impressive. But we felt to beat the (then) No. 4 team, we needed to be fresh.”

Riverside led by two after a quarter and extended that lead to 12 by the half.

Lewis scored five important points in the fourth quarter to hold off St. Pius as it made a push.

“He was big off the bench, especially as they were trying to close the gap late,” Byrd said.