by RYAN ARENA

L’Observateur

LAFAYETTE – “At the end of every season, we want a state championship,” said Riverside junior Ricardo Gathers after his team’s clash with Evangel in the Class 2A championship game Saturday night. “If we end the season with a state championship, everything else is okay.”

Everything is, indeed, okay in Reserve these days.

Riverside sealed its second consecutive state championship with an 82-61 victory over Evangel at the Top 28 boys basketball tournament at the Cajundome.

“It never gets old,” said Gathers of the title win, the third championship victory he’s taken part in.

It is the ninth state championship for Riverside coach Timmy Byrd, the last two coming with the Rebels after seven with Reserve Christian. For Riverside, it is the second state basketball championship in school history.

“It wasn’t one of our prettier wins. It was a grind it out type game,” said Byrd. “We’re thankful we won the game. More importantly, I feel blessed as a coach to have the players we have, both on and off the court.”

The Rebels finished the season 33-6.

Gathers was selected as the game’s Outstanding Player. It’s the third consecutive season that the 6-foot-8 forward has received the honor. He scored 18 points and grabbed 10 rebounds to go along with three steals and two blocks.

Evangel kept the Rebels within arms reach most of the night. But in the fourth quarter, the Eagles finally wilted under the Rebels’ pressure.

The Rebels led 52-42 early in the fourth quarter, but in less than three minutes the game was all but over. Lucas Martin-Julien hit a free throw and Zelvin Smith scored on a layup to make it 55-42. Then Riverside forced a turnover and hit Donald Thomas in transition. He’d glide in for a dunk to bring the Riverside bench – and contingent of fans – to their feet, making it a 15-point game.

“It was a big change in momentum,” said Thomas. “I have to credit my teammates. Our trap really frustrated them and created opportunities.”

Jermauria Rasco made a layup for Evangel to cut into the Riverside lead, but another turnover led to another opportunity for Thomas to slam home two points. His two-handed stuff made it 59-44.

“When Donald attacks and uses his length and aggressiveness, he’s as good as anyone in the state,” said Byrd.

Thomas’ 3-pointer 21 seconds later made it 62-45, and back-to-back layups by Martin-Julien pushed Riverside’s lead to 19 with 5:09 left to play in the game.

Evangel would get no closer than 15 the rest of the way.

Smith was key for Riverside, scoring 17 and adding eight rebounds. Thomas scored 13 and Martin-Julien scored 12. Louis Dabney scored nine.

Byrd said the team’s balanced effort was par for the course.

“It doesn’t surprise us. We’ve had six guys that have scored 30 or more in a game this year,” said Byrd. “I thought we had three or four guys who could have been MVP. And Louis has been our second leading scorer all year. Today, he wasn’t concerned with scoring. These guys understand the importance of winning over individual statistics.”

Both teams struggled from the outside, combining to shoot 4-21 (three makes belonged to Riverside in the second half). Neither team made a 3 in the first half.

It was the second game in two days for each team, but Byrd said he didn’t think tired legs had anything to do with his team’s issues from the perimeter.

“We’ve had plenty of games this year where we’ve played back to back and actually shot better in the second half than the first,” he said. “We just couldn’t get into a rhythm.”

The Rebels shot 49.2-percent for the game, compared to 42.9-percent for Evangel.

The game was littered with fouls. 53 were called in all. Riverside hit 21 of their 39 free throw attempts while Evangel shot 18-for-34.

Evangel was eliminated by Riverside for the second consecutive year at the Top 28, after falling to the Rebels in the semifinals a year prior in a game similar to the one that took place Saturday.

“They put some big, wide bodies on the floor and they play zone,” said Byrd. “You tend to struggle if you aren’t making shots from the outside, because you don’t have much room to operate in the lane.”

Byrd credited eighth grader Von Julien for making a big impact in the second half. He scored just five points, but the point guard distributed the ball and helped Riverside settle into a groove after struggling from the floor offensively in the first half. Riverside shot 40-percent in the first half and 58-percent in the second.

“You have to give him a lot of credit. He’s a guy that knows how to distribute the ball, and that started to get us going,” said Byrd.

Riverside led by as many as 15 in the first half, but a pair of consecutive baskets by Rasco at the end of the half cut the Rebel lead to eight, 30-22, at halftime.

Riverside led by as many as 18 in the third quarter, but Evangel rallied to make it 52-40 entering the fourth quarter.

Gathers and Smith fouled out of the game in the fourth quarter, but only after things were well in hand.

Before facing Evangel, Riverside defeated Episcopal-Baton Rouge in decisive fashion, 76-43 in the semifinals.

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

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