Riverside overcomes Karr in overtime for Sugar Bowl boys title

WESTWEGO, La. – Riverside Academy has earned its reputation and nickname as the Runnin’ Rebels of Louisiana. That showed up at the right time Saturday evening.

The Rebels forced 23 turnovers, including four in the decisive overtime as Riverside overcame Karr 61-55 in the championship game of the Allstate Sugar Bowl National Prep Classic at the Alario Center.

It was a déjà vu moment for Riverside. In 2015, the Rebels rallied to beat Karr 70-67 in the championship game of the same event.

It was the second overtime game in succession for the fatigued Rebels, who outlasted Lincoln, New York 75-70 in double overtime in the semifinals Friday night.

“We’ve had several overtime games,” said Riverside head coach Timmy Byrd. “They just find a way to win. Taurus (Howard) is doing a great job with Karr. They’re loaded with athletes. Karr’s kids are winners. They know how to win also. I told our kids that if we don’t make them guard in overtime, they would win. I thought our kids not only did a pretty good job guarding them but making them guard us in the half court.”

Alabama signee Jared Butler earned Most Valuable Player honors, scoring 26 points, pulling down four rebounds and dishing out three assists. Butler had three steals as well despite playing his second straight draining overtime game.

“It’s just a mentality, I want to win so bad,” Butler said. “What I’ve got to do, I’m going to do, especially in this tournament. It’s our fifth tournament and we won our previous four and really wanted to win this one. I always need help from my teammates. They played so great. I’m just glad I have them on my team. I just love those guys.”

Karr started quickly scoring the first seven points of the game before Riverside rallied to cut the deficit to 15-10 after one quarter. Quindell Johnson had 10 points for Karr while Jared Butler scored eight of the 10 Rebel points.

The Rebels came alive in the second quarter with a 7-0 run. There were three lead changes in the quarter and Butler made the difference making a trio of 3-pointers and scoring 11 in the quarter, 19 in the half to give Riverside a 28-23 lead.

Karr fought back in the third quarter, holding Butler scoreless in the period and cut the deficit to 35-33.

“Jared is unselfish,” Byrd said. “When teams double him and force him to give up the ball, he trusts his teammates and creates for them.

In the final quarter, the Cougars went on a 7-0 run to take a 42-38 lead but Riverside fought back to tie it 48-48. Butler had a shot to win it from about 24 feet at the buzzer, sending the game to overtime.

In the extra period, Kash Foley came alive for Riverside, scoring seven of his nine points while Butler and Garland Robertson sank a pair of free throws each.

Quindell Johnson topped the Cougars (13-8) with 16 points and seven rebounds while Marc Bowie added 10 points and seven rebounds for Karr.

The tournament victory was the fifth tournament championship of the season for Riverside and the Rebels claimed their fourth Allstate Sugar Bowl National Prep Classic title in the eight years of the event.

Butler earned MVP honors in the event for the second time in three years. He was the Most Valuable Player in 2015 when Riverside beat Karr 70-67 in the final.

“This seemed a lot like that game,” Butler said. “We had to dig deep to win that one against them and we had to dig deep in this one to win. They are a good team that plays hard but we are good team that plays hard, too!”

The Rebels travel to defending Class 5A state champion Landry-Walker Tuesday night at 7 p.m. while the Cougars are at Scotlandville Tuesday night.

“We’ve got a tough one at Landry-Walker,” Byrd said. “Hopefully, we can win that and after that, we will get about a week and a half of rest and try to rejuvenate our energy level. Right now, we’re just mentally and physically fatigued. We just need rest. We’ve been fortunate. I don’t think I’ve ever had a team start 22-0.”

Final
RA 10 18 7 13 13 61
Karr 15 8 10 15 7 55

Scoring
RA—Jared Butler 26, Garland Robertson 12, Kash Foley 9, Isaiah Bigham 9, Jalen Banks 3, Jordan Loving 2

Karr—Quindell Johnson 16, Marc Bowie 10, Skylar Perry 9, Myron Green 7, DeAntry Hughes 6, Reynaud Shields 5, Kendall Johnson 2