By RYAN ARENA

L’Observateur

RESERVE – Riverside Academy coach Timmy Byrd called his team’s third quarter on Friday night the best ball his Rebels have played coming out of the half all year.

As a result, Riverside was off to the state quarterfinals – and into a rematch with archrival John Curtis.

The Rebels soundly defeated visiting Rosepine, 95-50, in a Class 2A regional round playoff game.

Riverside was scheduled to host Curtis in a quarterfinal game Tuesday night, after publication presstime. See Saturday’s edition for the game story.

Malik Crowfield led Riverside in scoring for the second straight game, posting a game-high 21. Jordan Andrews put up 19. Von Julien scored 15 and Herb McGee scored 14 to help pace the RA offense.

Riverside (24-5) scored 35 third quarter points to extend what was a 12-point halftime lead out of Rosepine’s reach.

The Rebels began the third quarter with an 18-4 run, pushing their lead to 26, 56-30.

“We had multiple guys going off,” said Byrd. “Malik was big for us. Von had one stretch, I think, where he scored eight points in a span of 45 seconds. Cory Costanza kept possessions alive for us with a bunch of offensive rebounds.

“Everyone stepped up and as a result, we played the best third quarter we have all season.”

Riverside was tasked with stopping a hot Rosepine team and passed the test with flying colors. Rosepine entered as one of the state’s hottest teams, with wins in 18 of its last 19 games prior to Friday’s contest. Riverside held Rosepine (23-5) to just eight points in the quarter and led 73-34 entering the fourth.

The Rebels forced 24 turnovers on the night.

“We pressed them a little bit,” said Byrd. “24 turnovers is big. We played with a lot of energy and made the right decisions on offense.

“I thought we did a good job of not just settling for outside shots, and we shot it well when we did.”

Riverside made nine 3-pointers.

James Mean led Rosepine with 15 points.

The Rebels have won 16 of their last 18 games.