Labiche pours in 17 points to pace Rebels to 49-40 victory

RESERVE – The Riverside and St. Charles Catholic boys basketball teams had a game this past week that, for one time, may not have been completely about winning and losing.

The two squads got a rare chance to play a game at the New Orleans Arena, part of the promotional aspect of the Crescent City facility.

The two River Region teams clashed on Wednesday in a game that turned out to be a 49-40 victory for Riverside.

The Rebels jumped out to a 31-17 first half lead with some hot shooting, then had to hold off a strong SCC rally in the second half for the win.

Josh Labiche had his second big game of the week as he scored 17 points, and got great support from teammates Chris Fontenot with eight points, Jarid Caesar with seven, then Robert Tamplain and Anthony Trosclair with six each.

Jonathan Bonura led the way for the Comets with 15, with Michael Troglen scoring eight, Andrew Coleman scoring eight and Jarius Sanders adding six.

“We had a really good first half,” Rebel coach Tommy Monier said. “But we have had a hard time playing with the lead and St. Charles fought us hard in the second half.”

“The experience playing down there, however, was just unbelieveable and absolutely fun for the kids,” he added.

SCC coach Jeff Montz agreed that the opportunity to play in the Arena was a special time for his kids.

“It was a really good experience for the kids and I think they handled that kind of pressure in such a place very well. But Riverside really played well in the first half,” he said.

“We just got three starters who were in football, so it is like we have just started all over and we’ll take a while to get going as a group,” he said. “But I think we will be good since we return a lot of starters.”

SCC is now 1-5 on the season.

Riverside turned in a high scoring performance on the road on Tuesday night, but ran out of gas against a talented Pearl River High team from across the lake.

Riverside had good scoring balance from four players on their way to a 58-56 lead heading into the fourth quarter.

But Monier said the club ran out of gas in the final period as Pearl River outscored them 23-15 to rally for the win.

“That was really our best 32 minutes of basketball out of three games we have played,” Monier said. “They are an outstanding team that went to the playoffs in 3A last year, but we probably lost due to our lack of depth.”

Labiche had a big game to lead the way with 26 points, including 10 in the fourth quarter, while Fontenot scored 19, Matt Rogers scored 17 and Tamplain added nine.