By RYAN ARENA

Sports Editor

With six minutes remaining in St. James’ contest with Riverside on Friday night, the Wildcats led by 13, and victory seemed to be a formality.

In reality, it was anything but.

A scoring barrage by Riverside followed and cut the St. James lead to one. But Terrance Green lifted the Wildcats on his shoulders down the stretch to help his team survive and take a 62-56 victory away from the Rebels’ gym.

The win allows the Wildcats (7-14, 3-1) to keep pace with District 10-2A leader John Curtis, which is undefeated in district play so far.

Green scored eight of his game high 28 points in the final 2:25 of the fourth quarter to keep Riverside (5-20, 2-3) from taking the lead.

His contributions were desperately needed. St. James led 48-35 early in the fourth quarter, but shots that hadn’t fallen early for Riverside began to swish through in bunches. The Rebels went on a 14-2 run charged by precise perimeter shooting, and SJH appeared to be on the ropes.

“They were making their shots and doing their thing,” said Green. “I just thought, ‘Somebody has to lock up on defense.’”

With St. James ahead 50-49, Green hit a leaner to give St. James a three-point lead with 2:25 left. He made another basket on the team’s next possession to make it a five-point game.

St. James began to extend its defense to take away the 3-pointer, but Riverside had a response.

Bobby Smith first answered for the Rebels by converting a runner in the lane to make it 54-51 with 2:01 left. St. James was whistled for an offensive foul on the other end, and Josh Tassin responded with driving layup to make it 54-53, sending the Riverside fans into a frenzy.

The Rebels couldn’t get one more stop, though. After a Wildcats miss, Green put back the miss to make it 56-53 with 1:03 left.

“I know my role is not only to score, but to get rebounds,” said Green, who was a terror on the offensive glass all night. “I’ve got to bring a presence to the post.”

Riverside couldn’t answer on its next two trips — the second of which was stymied by a Kyron Green steal — and St. James tacked on three more points to make it 59-53.

With five seconds left, Tassin hit a three to make it 59-56. But St. James threw a pass downcourt on the inbounds play to an open Lewis, who made a shot, drew the foul, and finished the Rebels for good.

“The pendulum definitely swung their way there,” said St. James Coach James Smith.

“But we persevered. We showed good character. You’re going to have peaks and valleys, and you have to withstand them.”

Alonzo Lewis scored 17 for St. James.

Kane Keller led Riverside with 21 points. Tassin added 18.

Riverside Coach Ben Wilson said his team did not leave the court completely empty handed.

“I told the guys that they earned a little respect from (St. James) tonight,” Wilson said. “To hear from a James Smith after the game, ‘Hey, your guys are pretty tough,’ that means a lot from a James Smith, who’s accomplished so much.”

SJH led 30-20 at halftime.

Riverside hit 11 three pointers in the game.

Riverside found open shots from the outside in the first three quarters, but couldn’t seem to cash in. It all changed in the fourth. Tassin cut St. James’ lead to single digits, 48-40, with a layup with 4:42 left. That began a run of four straight possessions with scores, the final three coming from long range — Keller sank two threes, Tassin another. It left STH with a 50-49 lead.

“That’s nothing new for us,” said Wilson. “We can go 0-10, then 10-12 all of a sudden.”

Said Keller: “We’ve faced bigger deficits than that. We know we can come back. We just had a couple of turnovers at the end that killed us.

“They’ve got a good team, and we gave our all. We just came up a little short.”

RIVERSIDE 47, FISHER 40 — Justin Newbauer led all scorers last Tuesday as the Rebels (5-19, 2-2) evened out their district record with a victory at home over Fisher (7-8, 1-4).

Keller hit four 3-pointers and scored 12 points. Tassin added seven.

Riverside hit nine 3-pointers in the win.