Rebels trounce Helen Cox, fall to St. Thomas More

Published 12:00 am Wednesday, January 13, 2010

By RYAN ARENA

L’Observateur

HARVEY – Ricardo Gathers scored 28 points and grabbed 16 rebounds to lead Riverside on Monday night as the Rebels rolled past host Helen Cox, 83-57 in a non-district game.

Riverside also got sizeable contributions from Louis Dabney (19 points) and Cedric Jenkins (16) as the Rebels bounced back from a close loss on Friday night to Class 5A St. Thomas More.

“I was real pleased with how hard our kids played from the opening tip,” said Riverside coach Timmy Byrd.

The Rebels (19-5) wasted little time in imposing their will on the Class 4A Cougars, racing out to a 23-5 lead after a quarter. That lead ballooned to 47-20 at halftime, and a rout was on.

“In the games that we’ve lost, we haven’t come out focused early. When we come ready to play, though, we’re pretty stingy at the defensive end,” said Byrd of his team’s suffocating play in the first half.

Helen Cox used a zone press to defend Riverside, but the Rebels had an answer from the start.

“We handled it well and got a lot of easy buckets,” said Byrd.

Gathers, in particular, put together something of a highlight reel during the game, getting out in the open court and finishing – the 6-6 center slammed home eight dunks in the game.

“Rico was really running the floor,” said Byrd. “He was flying around on the offensive end, even when we were in our halfcourt set.”

Gathers said that the number of transition buckets came as something of a surprise.

“It was fun, but you don’t expect the game to be like that,” said Gathers. “We took what they gave us…it was a big win to bounce back and get into a flow again.”

Joe Ealy led the Cougars with 18 points.

ST. THOMAS MORE 53, RIVERSIDE 51 – Riverside erased a 17-point deficit to tie St. Thomas more late, but STM was able to push forward again and hold onto a two point win in Lafayette.

The Rebels struggled at the foul line, shooting 5-for-11, and behind the 3-point arc, shooting 2-for-20.

Worse, Byrd says, the Rebels settled for perimeter jumpers far too often.

“When we made our push to get back into it, we forced it inside. We were settling for long jumpers before that point and we fell behind,” said Byrd. “But what do we do in the last two minutes? We ignored how we got back and settle for the three.”

The Rebels tied it three times in the fourth quarter, but some critical turnovers and misses late allowed STM to forge ahead for good.

Byrd chalked it up to a learning experience.

“This team still plays young at times,” says Byrd.

“But the reason we play the schedule we play is so we can find out who fits into what role when it matters.”

Riverside is set to host East St. John tonight at 7 p.m. at the Rebel gym.