RESERVE — He’s got a tender elbow from throwing a football and a sore neck from being tackled — hard — in the Class 2A state championship game.

For a while, he felt like he had a little hole in his heart from losing that game. It got a little bigger as the Riverside Academy basketball team started its 2015-16 season with back-to-back-to-back losses. That never happens.

But winning can cure a lot of aches, pains and disappointments, and so can playing lights out. Just ask Riverside guard Jared Butler.

The 6-foot-1 Butler may be just a sophomore, but over the past month he has emerged as a star among stars on the Riverside Academy team. Just this past weekend he was named Most Valuable Player of the prestigious Allstate Sugar Bowl National Prep Basketball Classic after helping the Rebels sweep their field and win their third tournament title in four years.

Butler scored 14 points in an opening-round win over West Jefferson. The next night he scored 29 points in a 65-60 victory over Lafayette Christian, hitting six 3-point shots along the way. He followed that with 14 points in a semifinal showdown against Landry-Walker and another 20 points in the championship game against Karr.

While posing for post-game photos, the youngster pretended to sip from his miniature Sugar Bowl cup.

“He’s just a great player,” Riverside coach Timmy Byrd said. “He’s just got that ‘it’ factor. He’s a big momentum player. He creates scoring opportunities. He can score from anywhere on the court.”

Butler certainly seemed to prove that at the Alario Center, wowing the crowds with his play — especially against Lafayette Christian.

“It felt great,” Butler said. “I hit the first two or three and then my teammates started getting excited for me and just kept getting me the ball. I can’t explain it. There’s no magic juice for it or anything.”

It wasn’t a bad performance for a guy who came out of the 2015 football season battered and bruised. Normally a wide receiver, Butler was pressed into service at quarterback after projected starter Jordan Loving injured his back during summer workouts.

But Butler began experiencing elbow pain. He said it was an issue with his growth plate, which caused him to miss the first four games of the season.

When he made his return, it was at receiver, with teammate (and fellow basketball stand-out Herb McGee) making the throws. But there were times they switched it up.

“It was crazy,” Butler said.

“They called a play where Herb was at quarterback and I was at receiver and, before he said ‘hut’ we switched. I had never seen an offense do the things we were doing.”

That offense (and a pretty good defense) got the Rebels to the Mercedes-Benz Superdome for the Division III Select Schools final against Notre Dame. It was Riverside’s first trip to the Dome since 2000.

It did not end well. Notre Dame’s vaunted defense held the Rebels to a mere field goal. They also knocked Butler, the Rebels’ starting quarterback, out of the game when he was tackled on a run near the end of the first quarter.

“My neck bent all the way to the numbers on the front of my jersey,” Butler said. “I was afraid I might have broken my neck.”

Butler spent the rest of the game with ice on his neck. Even now, more than a month later, he said it still bothers him at times.

So does the 13-3 loss.

“I had never been a part of a state championship game where I didn’t win,” Butler said. “We really wanted to show everybody that we were dangerous in football and not just in basketball. It really bothered me for a while.”

So did losing the first three games of the basketball season — a rarity for the Rebels.

“It was very frustrating,” Butler said. “But coach Timmy kept telling us it was OK. We would be all right.”

Said Byrd: “We weren’t playing a cupcake schedule. We had no tune up games.”

Riverside opened with a loss to Class 5A West Jefferson (58-49), to Class 3A University (73-63) and to Class 5A Scotlandville (67-56). After picking up a forfeit from Landry-Walker, the Rebels have not lost a game on the court and have captured three straight tournament championships.

“It took us a little longer to get in basketball shape,” Butler said. “Normally, we are in mid-season shape by the Holy Cross Tournament. This year, we were there by the Sugar Bowl week. It’s like, we played football an extra week, so it took us an extra week.”

Now things calm down a bit for the Rebels, who begin their District schedule Thursday night at home against cross-town rival St. Charles Catholic. It has been five years since the Rebels and the Comets have met on the court.