LAKE CHARLES — The reign finally ended Saturday, leaving behind a flood of emotion.

Madison Preparatory Academy of Baton Rouge did what few teams have been able to do over the last eight years — shut down Riverside Academy. The Chargers, who won the Class 1A state championship last year, were runners-up the year before that  and the Class B champ in 2013, denied Riverside a fourth consecutive state title and sent the Rebels home from Lake Charles with their second runner-up trophy.

They did it in spectacular fashion, too. Saturday’s 41-33 loss to Madison Prep was the lowest scoring game in Class 2A championship history. Riverside’s 33 points were the lowest by a single team in a 2A championship game. It’s lone two points scored in the third quarter — practically unheard of by any Riverside team in any game — set yet another 2A record for futility. It also was the lowest point total by a Timmy Byrd-coached team — ever.

“Yeah, we’ve never been held to the 30s,” Byrd said. “You’ve got to give Madison Prep the credit. They’re really the first team to pretty much shut us down like that. I thought they were smothering on defense. We just couldn’t get anything going.”

Madison Prep, which came into the game determined not to “get into a track meet” with the Rebels, according to Chargers coach Jeff Jones, executed its plan to perfection. The Chargers slowed the game, shortened the court and closed the passing lanes, forcing the Rebels to fight for possession much of the time. Then, the Rebels shot miserably.

Riverside turned the ball over 20 times, shot 28 percent from the floor and 28.6 percent from 3-point range. Herb McGee led the Rebels scoring with 14 points and was 4 of 9 from 3-point range. Malik Crowfield scored 13 points and was 3 of 9 on 3-pointers. Only two other players even scored — Jalen Banks and Jared Butler. Both finished with 3 points.

“It was  a non-typical game for us,” Byrd said. “Even though we didn’t have it going offensively, we were right there in it and had a chance to win it. Our defense was really superb. We held them to 40 points. You just can’t have 20 turnovers and expect to win it.”

For the Rebels, it was an ending as unusual as their beginning. The team, normally in full basketball mode by mid-November, had to wait until mid-December because the football team made it all the way to the state championship game and nearly the whole roster was still in pads. The Rebels had just one full practice before opening the season with a 58-49 loss to West Jefferson on Dec. 8. The late start may or may not have contributed to the Rebels’ 0-3 start — also unheard up by any Riverside team.

“Everybody started panicking, everybody said the walls were falling down, the roof was caving in,” Byrd said. “But we didn’t. We knew we would right the ship.”

Even righted, the Rebels struggled at times. For the first time in the Byrd era, the team had to share its district championship with Country Day. For the first time since 2013, the team was not the No. 1 seed going into the playoffs.

Despite the disappointing ending, Byrd declared the 2015-16 season to be a “great” one.

“We were blessed to be here,” he said. “We’ve been blessed to be here five years in a row. I just can’t say enough about Herb and Malik and what they’ve done for our program. I’m really going to miss these guys. This is not something they’re used to, this feeling. They’ve been champions in victory. They’re champions in defeat. They’ve got nothing to be ashamed of. I’m super proud of them.”

Handed the reins to the future Riverside team, the sophomore Butler thanked his senior teammates.

“First off I want to say I love Malik and Herb and the seniors on the team, they are like my big brothers,” Butler said.

“They are always there even when we’re fighting, but I still love them. This moment gives me experience for the whole season and how to prepare for a championship game and what goes on. It gave me another opportunity to grow.”