BY RYAN ARENA

L’OBSERVATEUR

LAFAYETTE – The Riverside Academy boys basketball team continued to roll through the state playoffs today, defeating Episcopal 76-43 in the semifinal round of the Boys Top 28 state basketball tournament at the Cajundome.

The top-seeded Rebels will face Evangel tomorrow night at 6:30 in Lafayette to decide the Class 2A championship. Evangel defeated Ville Platte, 67-64, in the other semifinal game.

Riverside led by 13 at halftime but quickly pushed the lead to 21 after just 2:20 of play in the second half.

“I think our length really bothered them,” said Riverside coach Timmy Byrd. “We knew we were going to change defenses at halftime … I don’t think they expected it. We did some things we hadn’t been doing.”

Louis Dabney led all Rebel scorers with 18. Other high scorers for Riverside (32-6) included Ricardo Gathers with 17 and Donald Thomas with 13.

Episcopal’s high scorer was Brian Bridgewater with 23. Episcopal finished the season 28-7.

Bridgewater scored 20 of his points in the first half, but Episcopal coach Chris Beckham said he believed his star wore down, having to face the multitude of different defenders that Riverside had at its disposal.

The Rebels played 12 different players in the first half.

“That’s the best high school team I’ve seen in the 15 years I’ve been coaching,” said Beckham. “To play 12 guys in the first half, in a semifinal game, and you go on to win by over 30, that’s amazing to me. I think they’re the best team in any classification in the state.”

Seven different Rebels hit 3-pointers in the game. Riverside forced 25 turnovers and held Episcopal to just 26.4 percent shooting.

No Rebel played more than 19 minutes, a plus as both Riverside and Evangel will be playing on the second night of back-to-back performances.

“I think it plays into our hands,” said Byrd. “We go 12 deep, and we’ve played such a tough schedule. Our kids are used to playing back-to-backs.”