Charvon Julien scored 22 points and handed out five assists as Riverside Academy, of Reserve, La., upset Sheldon High School from Sacramento, Calif., 72-65, to win the boys’ title in the third annual Allstate Sugar Bowl National Prep Classic. Julien earned tournament Most Valuable Player honors. The three-day event was contested at the Alario Center in Westwego.
In the first girls’ tournament at the National Prep Classic, Warren Easton High school, from New Orleans, won the championship with a 42-39 defeat of Salmen High, from Slidell, La. Lawriell Wilson scored 17 points and was named the girls’ Most Valuable Player.
The boys’ championship started with Sheldon jumping out to leads of 13-1 and 17-3 in the first quarter. However, the Rebels clawed back to take a 31-30 halftime lead. With the game was tied at 62 in the fourth quarter, Jordan Andrews and Julien converted back-to-back layups to spark a 9-0 Riverside run to put the game out of reach for the Huskies.
Riverside made 10 of 22 three-point attempts as freshman Herb McGee was 4-of-8 from beyond the arc en route to 17 points. Malik Crowfield added 15 points for the Rebels and Andrews finished with 12. Sheldon was led by 22 points from Dakarai Allen and 21 from Darin Johnson.
Julien finished the tournament averaging 15.0 points and 6.0 assists per game. The Sheldon standouts, Allen and Johnson, averaged 20.0 and 18.7 points per game, respectively. The tournament’s leading scorer was Mason Taylor from Bishop Verot High School in Fort Myers, Fla. Antonio Lewis, from Sheldon, set a tournament record with 20 rebounds in the quarterfinals.
Riverside became the first Louisiana boys’ team in the three-year history of the tournament to win the title. The inaugural classic in 2011 was won by Kimball High School from Dallas, while Oklahoma City’s Douglass High School took the title last January.
“This was unexpected,” said Riverside head coach Tim Byrd. Sheldon sported 2 of the top 150 players in the nation in the class of 2013.
Riverside’s win was its 13th of the season against three losses.
Saturday, Jan. 5 Results/Stats:
Riverside 72, Sheldon 65 (Championship)
John Curtis 52. Bishop Verot 35 (Third Place)
St. Augustine 56, Douglass 55
Northside 46, St. Thomas Aquinas 34
Friday, Jan. 4 Results/Stats
Sheldon 73, John Curtis 52 (Semifinal)
Riverside 54, Bishop Verot 41 (Semifinal)
St. Augustine 69, O.P. Walker 58
Northside 66, Douglass 38
St. Thomas Aquinas 53, Higgins 51
Thursday, Jan. 3 Results/Stats
John Curtis 59, O.P. Walker 49
Riverside 48, St. Augustine 45
Sheldon 65, Northside 43
Bishop Verot 75, Douglass 67
O.P. Walker 55, Higgins 52
St. Augustine 44, St. Thomas Aquinas 38
