By RYAN ARENA

L’Observateur

LAPLACE – The top-ranked Riverside Rebels scored a dominating victory in District 9-2A play on Friday night, downing St. Charles 81-24 in the district opener for the Comets.

Ricardo Gathers scored 31 points to lead the Rebels (23-5. 2-0). Ed Gallina added 13.

John Williams led St. Charles (7-15, 0-1) with seven. Marcus Hall added five.

Riverside started hot and never relented, outscoring the Comets 20-2 in the first quarter and 32-11 in the second.

SCC coach Chris Perrone said Riverside’s length and depth were major issues for his team.

“They do a really good job of forcing you to play their tempo,” he said. “We had to do it all night, and we weren’t accustomed to it. We turned it over 26 times. And they’re so long, so when they go to that zone it makes it really tough.

“They’re just a really talented team, stacked from top to bottom.”

HOLY CROSS 62, ST. CHARLES 44 – On the back of sizzling perimeter shooting by Derrin James, Holy Cross topped host St. Charles last Tuesday, 62-44 in a non-district game.

James led Holy Cross with 18 points, including his 5-of-7 shooting from behind the 3-point arc. All five 3-pointers came in the second and third quarters when Holy Cross extended a four-point lead to 26.

“We went to a 2-3 zone, they brought him into the game, and he did the job,” said St. Charles coach Chris Perrone. “That’s really the bottom line. On four trips down the floor, he made three 3’s. The kid can shoot and it was really the difference.”

John Williams led SCC with 13 points. Trenton Dunn scored 10.

Jesse Coleman added nine and Taylor Peytavin scored eight.

The Tigers led 17-13 after the first quarter, but extended their lead to 38-24 at halftime largely due to the hot shooting of James, as well as the play of Joel Pichon, who scored eight in the second.

“The two of them getting loose like that, it did us in,” said Perrone.

Perrone noted that this season’s been difficult at times for the Comets, with young players being pressed into major duty sooner than expected in some cases.

“But they’re rolling with the punches,” Perrone added. “I give them all the credit in the world for that.”