BY DAVID FOLSE II

Sports Editor

RESERVE-It takes a lot for a head coach to be upset after his team nearly wins by 20.

Despite beating St. Martin’s, 74-57, Riverside head coach Tommy Monier was completely happy with his team’s effort.

As they have been all season, the Rebels were led by their seniors. Josh Labiche had a game-high 26 points. Chris Fontenot also had a solid game with 16 points. Another senior, Matt Rogers had 13 points and freshman point guard Jarid Caesar had 11 in the victory.

The win pushes the Riverside record to 19-9 overall and 5-2 in district 10-2A play.

“I wasn’t pleased at all,” Monier said after the game. “I just thought that we did some things that were uncharacteristic for us and we lost our composure during the course of the game.

“If we are going to be a factor in the playoffs, or even get in them, which we probably already are, we have to play with poise and composure. We didn’t do that at times tonight.”

Monier said the mistakes are very familiar to all associated with the Riverside program.

“It is the same silly mistakes that we have been making all year,” Monier said. “We turned the ball over entirely too much despite the fact that they (St. Martin’s) were not pressuring us.

“We had a lot of self-inflicted wounds.”

Monier said he was pleased with Labiche’s ability to still score despite the defense making him their top priority.

“They started out playing a box and one on Josh to try and slow him down,” Monier said. “We have seen that from time-to-time and that has always been a problem for us offensively to deal with because we have never been a terrific outside shooting team.

“We haven’t had to see it that much this year because we have other guys that can score a little bit and they will have to continue to be an offensive threat if we are to have any success the rest of the season and into the post-season.”