BY GEORGE MAHL

RESERVE – On Dec. 10, the Riverside Academy Rebels played lost 62-47 to Crescent City Baptist High School. Three days later, the Rebels played better, especially on defense, against Ridgewood High School and earned a 43-38 victory.

“I guess the way we’ve been playing lately is sort of like wondering what kind of Christmas present you are going to get. You hope it’s something good,” RA head coach Tommy Monier said.

With RA leading 37-35 with 3:09 remaining, Ridgewood’s Grant Foster nailed a three-pointer to put the Golden Eagles up by one. However, Riverside’s Robert Fisackerly made four consecutive free-throws to put the Rebels up 41-38 with about 30 seconds left.

Ryan Griffin then stole the inbounds pass and laid it in to seal the victory.

“The effort was there tonight. We didn’t turn the ball over a lot and it paid off,” Monier said.

It was not easy for RA during the first half. RHS Patrick Mack scored his team’s first seven points to give them an early 7-2 lead. Mike Montgomery’s jumper expanded the Golden Eagles’ lead to 13-6 at the end of the first period.

During the second quarter, the squads exchanged baskets on several occasions with neither team able to break the game open. The biggest RHS lead occurred when Mack hit a shot to give the Golden Eagles a 21-12 lead with 43 seconds left until halftime.

With about two seconds left in the second quarter, Griffin banked in a long three-point shot to cut the RHS lead to 21-17 at halftime.

“For being a young team we really played with a lot of poise,” said the RA head coach.

The Rebels outscored RHS, a 1A school, 11-8 in the second period. The beginning of the third quarter saw the Rebels fall behind by six during the first three minutes. A 6-0 RHS run resulted in the Reserve school’s team going dry for more than two minutes. RA’s Josh Labiche buried a three-point jumper to pull the Rebels to within a point.

RA reclaimed the lead in the final period thanks to Fisackerly’s put-back making the score 35-33 Rebels. The lead was short lived, however, when Foster hit a three-pointer giving the visitors a 38-37 lead with 2:06 left in the game.

“Our guys answered the bell tonight. They sucked it up and played hard,” Monier concluded.

Leading scorers for RHS included Montgomery, 12 points, and Mack, nine points.

For Riverside, Griffin finished with 15 points and Labiche contributed eight points.