Rebels hold on for 61-58 win over BIC

In a game that was like a rivalry game should be, Riverside (22-6, 8-0) held on a for 61-58 win over BIC (17-10, 5-5) Saturday in 2A-3 conference play in Lake City.

Riverside got jumpers from Thatcher Durham, Cash Gillis and Grayson Taylor to take an early 6-0 lead before Max McCord scored in the paint for the Mustangs making it 6-2 Rebels. Taylor canned a three-ball for Riverside, Riley Whitehead hit one of two free throws for the Mustangs, Grayeson Timms hit a jumper for the Rebels before Jax Whitley hit a jumper in the lane for BIC making the score 11-5 Riverside with 2:50 left, Gillis hit two free throws and Taylor converted an old-school three-point play for the Rebels, Nicholas Patterson hit triple twine for the Mustangs only to see Riverside's Gills hit a jumper before converting an old-fashioned three-point play to give the Rebels a 21-8 lead after one quarter.

Whitley hit one of two free throws for BIC to start the second quarter scoring before Gillis scored in the paint for the Rebels to make it 22-9 Riverside. Whitley and McCord scored back to back baskets for the Mustangs as Harrison McAnally scored down low for Riverside making it 25-13 Rebels. Patterson hit a baseline jumper for BIC, Gillis hit two free throws for the Rebels before the Mustangs got a jumper in the lane from Patterson, a three-ball from Leo Contreras, two free throws from Patterson and a basket down low from Whitley to make the score 27-24 Riverside. Taylor hit a jumper for the Rebels to push their lead to 29-24 at halftime.

Riverside's Grayeson Timms goes in for a score as BIC's Leo Contreras defends during boys' basketball action Saturday in Lake City. (Photo by Cosmo Cosset)

BIC got six straight points from Whitley to take a 30-29 lead before Timms scored inside for the Rebels to make it 31-30 with 6:04 left. Contreras canned a three-ball for the Mustangs, Timms scored down low for Riverside and Patterson hit triple twine for BIC before Timms and Durham scored back to back baskets to make the score 37-36 Rebels. Patterson got inside for a basket for the Mustangs, then Riverside got two free throws from Taylor and a basket in the paint from Timms to make it 41-38 Rebels at the end of three.

Taylor pushed the Riverside lead to 43-38 with a basket to start the scoring in the fourth quarter, only to see Whitley convert an old-school three-point play making it 43-41 Rebels. Gillis hit two free throws for Riverside, Kell Gathright canned a three-ball for BIC then Durham drilled a three-pointer and Timms scored inside for the Rebels to make the score 50-44 Riverside with 4:54 left. BIC got a basket inside from Whitley, Timms got a basket down low for the Rebels before the Mustangs got back to back three-balls from Gathright and Whitley to make it 52-52 with 2:40 left. Taylor and Gathright traded three-pointers before Riverside got a stick back from Durham and one of two free throws from Timms and Gillis to make it 59-55 Rebels with 29 seconds left. Patterson drilled a three-pointer for BIC to cut the lead to 59-58 only to see Durham go coast to coast for a lay up to make it 61-58 with six seconds left setting the final score.

“In this league you got to cinch it up every night. BIC has a great ball club but I'm proud of my kids tonight,” Riverside head coach Buster Campbell said after the game. “We got the lead, they took the lead and then we got it back. We did a good job on the boards and the kids played hard,” Campbell added. “This is like the Rebels of a few years ago, the crowd was really good tonight. This was like the Riverside-BIC games of old. But it's getting back to that way now,” Campbell said.

Taylor led Riverside with 17 points, Gillis finished with 16 points, Timms and Durham had 15 and 11 points respectively and McAnally chipped in two points for the Rebels.

“I wish we could have came out with a win, Riverside is a good ball team, they are hard to beat,” BIC head coach Taylor Layne said of the game. “We played hard, did a lot of good thing tonight, just got down early and couldn't come back,” Layne added.

BIC's Whitley led all scorers with 24 points with Patterson adding 17 points. Contreras and Gathright finished with six points each, McCord scored four points and Whitehead finished with one point for the Mustangs.