By RYAN ARENA
L’Observateur

LAKE CHARLES — After racing out to an early 25-point lead, No. 1 seed Riverside had to stave off a furious rally from No. 5 North Caddo in the Class 2A semifinal between the teams Thursday.

But when the chips were down, the two-time defending state champion Rebels weren’t about to see their bid for a “three-peat” derailed. Riverside earned a 79-71 victory to advance to the Class 2A state championship game for the sixth consecutive season.

Herb McGee led Riverside with 23 points. Von Julien scored 17 to go along with five assists and no turnovers. Jordan Andrews scored 15 points and grabbed eight rebounds. Malik Crowfield scored 10 points and had seven rebounds.

Julien went 4 for 4 from the foul line and 3 for 3 from behind the arc. McGee went 8 for 10 at the foul line, as Riverside (30-6) finished with 18 makes in 22 attempts from the charity stripe.

“We’re happy to advance after playing a really good team,” Riverside coach Timmy Byrd said. “I thought we lost our aggressiveness a little bit after we got out to that big lead. Give them a lot of credit, North Caddo hit some big shots and it gave them life. Their center played an exceptional game.”

That center, 6’9” Robert Williams, finished with 27 points, 16 rebounds and four blocked shots. He shot 10 for 13 from the field. North Caddo (29-4) also got a big game from Kadavion Evans, who finished with 20 points.

Riverside shook off a bit of foul trouble and a bout of complacency to come up with the win. Malik Crowfield, Jordan Andrews and Jared Butler all dealt with heavy foul trouble in the second half.

The Rebels defeated Caddo 101-52 in last season’s semifinal.

The eight-point margin of victory was the slimmest of the Rebels’ 12-game winning streak, and stands as the closest win over an in-state foe for RA this season.

“As much as you guard against it, after winning big a year ago I think we took things a little lightly (after getting out to a big lead),” Byrd said.  “Having to play in a tight game, it could work in our favor. Our guys won’t take anything for granted against Lakeview. They should have a lot of respect for this team. It’s probably a good thing that we were in a dog fight.”

The Rebels made 12 first half 3-pointers against North Caddo, including seven in the first quarter alone. RA finished 15 of 33 from behind the arc.

“Jared and Jordan were really feeling it in the first half,” Byrd said. “We wanted to play a lot of guys and wear them out.

“I may have erred a little too much to that because we were in a great rhythm early. Herb really had a big game for us. We made our free throws and that was huge.”

North Caddo got within four late, making it 73-69 with 35 seconds left, but Riverside let it get no closer.