By RYAN ARENA

L’Observateur

Ricardo Gathers was once again a dominant force on the basketball court in 2011, and it’s hardly gone unnoticed.

Gathers hauled in two major postseason awards in the past week when he was named the Louisiana Gatorade Boys Player of the Year and the Class 2A Most Valuable Player, as selected by the Louisiana Sports Writers Association.

“It’s an honor and a privilege,” said Gathers. “Not a lot of players can say they’ve won those awards and I’m just honored to be able to say that I’m the Class 2A Player of the Year or the Gatorade Louisiana Player of the Year.”

He is one of two Rebels on the Class 2A All-State squad, as he is joined by teammate and fellow junior Louis Dabney.

The River Parishes netted another All-State representative this week as well in St. James’ Brandi Jeffery, who was named to the Class 3A girls squad. Jeffery led St. James to its first ever girls state basketball championship.

All three players made the first team of their respective classifications.

Riverside’s Donald Thomas and Zelvin Smith each were named honorable mention.

“I felt like all five of our starters were deserving, All-State caliber,” said Riverside coach Timmy Byrd. “But when you play on a great team, all five obviously can’t make it. But these guys all have that ability.”

Gathers and Dabney led Riverside on a romp through the Class 2A playoffs, culminating with a 82-61 victory over Evangel in the state championship game.

The 6-foot-8-inch Gathers was named the game’s MVP on a night where he scored 18 points and grabbed 10 rebounds.

He averaged 20.7 points, 16.2 rebounds and 3.9 blocks this season.

“He’s just a dominant player,” said Byrd. “Rebounding, shot blocking, scoring … every phase of the game, he dominated. When you’re that young, you have to be absolutely dominant to win it once, let alone twice. The writers won’t select you as an underclassman unless you are.”

This was the first season Gathers spent a substantial amount of time playing on the perimeter, as opposed to down on the block.

“We gave him total freedom and he accepted the responsibility,” said Byrd. “Most of the time, a big man like that doesn’t handle that freedom very well, but he did. The move (outside) was key because it made it very difficult to double him. If he’s just in the box, teams could surround him with three guys. But on the outside, he became a nightmare matchup.”

Said Gathers: “It gave me a chance to show that I can play inside-out, and it opened up a lot of things for our offense and other guys,” said Gathers. “We had five guys that scored 25 or more in a game. You don’t really see that much.”

Dabney, meanwhile, was the team’s second leading scorer at 17.3 points per game. The 6-foot-4-inch guard stepped up his offensive game to help his team replace the production lost by six departing seniors – including standout scorer Cedric Jenkins.

“I was really pleased with his maturation,” said Byrd of Dabney, who moved from small forward to shooting guard this season. “He’s always been a scorer, but with so many guys who could score it last year, he was willing to play his role and help in the areas we really needed him in. We knew he’d be a big scorer though, and he filled Cedric’s role.

“(Dabney and Gathers) are great scorers but also great defenders. They can guard bigger or smaller players and really lock down on defense.”

Dabney made the squad despite suffering a midseason ankle injury that sidelined him for a handful of games. In his first game upon returning, he didn’t miss a beat, scoring 35 points and hitting eight 3-pointers against St. Charles.

It’s the first 2A All-State selection for Dabney, the second for Gathers.

Jeffery, a 5-foot-8-inch senior guard who has signed with Nebraska, scored 23.6 points per game in leading St. James to the state title. The Wildcats defeated all five of their playoff foes by double figures, including a 61-49 win over Avoyelles in the 3A state championship.

“She came a long, long way as a basketball player,” said St. James coach Justin Adams. “She was already returning All-State, but she matured tremendously through this season. She sacrificed individual achievements for the team, and as it turned out, the team’s success allowed her to reach more individual goals.”

As an example of her maturity, Adams pointed out his team’s quarterfinal win over Kaplan and Class 3A MVP Tina Roy.

“Brandi wasn’t having her best offensive game,” said Adams. “Tina was doing really well. Brandi said during a timeout, ‘Let me guard her.’ From that point, Tina had to work for everything she got and it was really the turning point.

“It’s just been a pleasure to coach a player of that caliber. She’ll be a success at the next level because she’s willing to work for it.”