By RYAN ARENA

L’Observateur

LAFAYETTE — Reserve Christian coach Timmy Byrd wouldn’t call this year’s Eagles’ squad the best team that he’s had.

That honor goes to the RCS squad led by Tweety Carter, one that beat four nationally ranked teams.

But talent wise, Byrd says, this team beats them all. It’s high praise coming from a coach who has now overseen seven state champions in the past eight years, the latest sewn up at the Cajundome Saturday as RCS rolled to a 108-79 victory over Athens in the Class C finals of the State Farm Top 28 tournament.

It is Reserve’s fifth straight state title. Each of the last four coming in Class C.

“This is the most talented team we’ve had, and it’s so young,” Byrd said, noting that the Eagles boast seven freshman and will lose only two seniors.

“This is really the first time all season we’ve truly been healthy. We lost (point guard) Kyle McClue before the season with a broken ankle. Ricardo Gathers broke his hand and his leg and missed time. This is the first time we’ve had all of them together.”

Reserve (44-7) set a Class C record with a combined 207 points in the two tournament games, falling one point shy of the overall record.

Count Athens coach Marcus Jackson among the impressed.

“Wow…oh man,” Jackson said with a wry smile, shaking his head. “They’re the best team in the state, hands down, in the past three years. Their third string is better than most first strings in Class C.”

Gathers finished with 22 points and 14 rebounds, and shot 10-of-16 from the floor on his way to tackling Most Outstanding Player honors.

Ed Gallina scored 20. Cedric Jenkins and Kyle McClue each scored 13 for RCS.

Bobbin Tobin and Devarius Criton each scored 21 to lead Athens (31-7).

10 different Eagles scored in the game, highlighting what enabled Reserve to survive myriad injuries throughout the season – its depth.

Few teams in Class C, if any, can match the Eagles’ starting five. But assuredly none can match that depth, Jackson said.

“That’s the key. I couldn’t sub, and they just continued to,” said Jackson. “And they never missed a beat. I knew in the end that they’d wear us down. When you can come with guy after guy and never lose a step, it’s just a matter of time.”

For awhile, Athens kept Reserve from slamming the door. At halftime, the Trojans trailed by 14, but baskets by the Trojans’ Willie Cato, Mikadrian Shelton and Chris Kimble began the second half and cut the Eagle lead to 46-39.

“Our defensive intensity waned a little there,” said Byrd.

But from that point, the rout was on. A short runner by Jenkins and a 3-pointer from McClue quickly pushed the lead back to 12.

“We needed another spark,” said Jenkins. “We had to have one more push to pull away.”

Franklin Francois’ 3 from the wing made it 56-43 with 5:22 left in the quarter. Back-to-back 3s from Gallina secured a 65-45 lead for RCS with 3:18 left. A pair of Gathers baskets and a 3 from Derek Taylor capped a crushing 36-13 run to end the third.

“You’ve got 35 (Gallina) hitting shots from midcourt. Jenkins killed us from out there last year. So we can’t help on Gathers,” said Jackson.

And that meant the coronation was on once again.

For Byrd, the playoff run was one of the first chances he had to see his team play to its full potential.

“It remains to be seen how good this team could have been this season if it were healthy,” he said.

Gathers seems to have a pretty good idea.

“If you think this team’s good now,” the 6-6 freshman big man smiled, “then just wait till next year.”