Riverside Academy junior Jared Butler remembers his first trip to the Boys Top 28 Basketball Tournament like it was yesterday.

Sure, he remembers the 85-60 whooping the Rebels put on Lakeview in 2015 to win their fourth basketball state title and hoisting the trophy with his teammates.

He also remembers forgetting his tights back home in LaPlace.

“I didn’t think I’d get to play but, really, I didn’t know what I was doing,” Butler said. “I was a freshman.”

Riverside Academy coach Timmy Byrd understands. That first trip to the state tournament can be rather overwhelming.

“There’s so much to take care of,” Byrd said.

He also remembers last year and losing the title to Madison Prep.

This week Byrd was making his eighth straight trip to the state tournament with the Riverside Rebels. Going back to his coaching days at the defunct Reserve Christian School, it’s his 18th.

He has come home with a total of 14 trophies — 12 of them gold. So, he knows what his team has to do to bring home another one.

“Protect the ball,” he said, sternly. “We can’t turn the ball over.”

That and get Butler to play his best.

“We’re only going to go according to how he goes,” Byrd said. “He’s the guy. He’s the leader.”

Butler is still recovering from a pair of meniscus tears — one in each knee — that required surgery and have limited his movement.

He’s also still shaking off the affects of the football state championship he and his teammates won in December.

“I think it’s good and bad,” he said. “We saw how to come together to achieve something, but I also think we got relaxed, like, we won a championship. We don’t need another one.”

He also is trying to learn to be the leader his coach wants him to be.

“The hard part is, those are my boys and I grew up playing with them,” said Butler, who is a 4.0 student with plans to be an engineer someday. “It’s kind of hard to be on them. I don’t want to seem like I’m being a jerk. I don’t want them thinking like I’m superior. I want to be in between the coach and the player.”

Byrd said he just has to get over it.

“He has to know that he is the best player and his teammates are expecting him to lead,” Byrd said. “He has to realize that his teammates would rather he lead them to victory than be their friend.”

“I knew he was going to say that,” Butler said.

Last week Butler showed what he’s capable of, scoring 43 points in a 95-43 win over Christian Life to get the Rebels to the quarterfinals.

Even Byrd was impressed with Butler that night.

“I was impressed he was 12 of 15 from 3-point range,” Byrd said. “He had been putting in extra work outside of practice. You get rewarded when you do that.”

Byrd compared it to the night in 2005 when Demond “Tweety” Carter scored 70 points against East St. John, going 13 of 19 from the 3-point line.

“He basically bested Tweety’s percentage,” Byrd said. “That was in 2005.”

���I was 5 years old,” Butler said with a laugh.

Byrd is the first to admit that this was not a typical season for his Rebels.

For the first time since lots of people can remember, the Rebels put up double digits on the right side of their win-loss total.

They weren’t district champions, not even co-champions.

They weren’t ranked No. 1 in the state.

They left Reserve Monday with a record of 21-12 and the No. 3 seed.

That is why Byrd is so proud that his team got to make this trip — not that there was much doubt they would.

“I had to coach them hard this year,” Byrd said. “They’ll tell you.”

“I’m just glad we got through it,” Butler said.

And how did they do that?
“Just with constant practice and coach yelling at us and telling us we can get through it,” Butler said. “We just stayed the course and never lost the confidence that coach has in us.”

Lori Lyons is sports editor at L’OBSERVATEUR. She can be reached at 985-652-9545 or lori.lyons@lobservateur.com.