WILLIAMSTON — A roster that was seemingly always in flux and a conference packed with talented teams were just two of the major hurdles Riverside basketball coach Bobby Williams had to clear this year.

Despite those adversities, Williams’ Knights were always ready to play and finished the season with a 23-8 record and an appearance in the NCHSAA 1-A East Regional semifinal round of the playoffs.

It always helps to have talent, and the Knights had plenty of that, but that talent was not always available for an assortment of reasons. However, Williams kept the ship steady and led his team on a playoff run that lasted the longest of any area team, which made him an excellent choice for this year’s Washington Daily News Boys Basketball Coach of the Year.

Williams’ season got off to a bumpy start right from the beginning when his star point guard K.J. Brown injured his knee playing football and was ruled out for the entire basketball season.

It was a devastating loss for the Knights who were counting on Brown, a WDN all-area first team selection last year, to be a leader and provide a steady presence on the floor.

Williams admits to thinking about just how good Riverside’s season could have been had its star point guard played but said he was proud of how his players elevated their game and rallied around Brown’s absence.

“I think everybody picked up a little bit. Nobody was going to replace all the things that K.J. does as far as the way he has scored for us the last few years here,” said Williams, who wrapped up his second year as the Knights coach. “But they all stepped up the way you would hope they would for anybody. If Marcus (Freeman) gets two more, (points), Ramelle (Lanier) gets two more and Tremaine (Anderson) gets three more and so on, then you start to get what K.J. gave us. It wasn’t up to one person to make all that up. And I guess if there was a bright spot in losing K.J. it was that we never had him to start with. From Day One of practice we new K.J. was not going to be here.”

Aside from Brown’s absence, the Knights had to make due with not having Anderson, the team’s star swingman for a few games due to various reasons as well as sophomore point guard Chuck Smith. However, once the remaining players had a better understanding of what they brought to the team, the Knights began to get hot.

“I thought the guys began to accept there roles. It was an interesting season. We lost what we thought would be our return starting two-year point guard and we lost another guy around Christmas time,” Williams said. “But we came together around Christmas time when we went out and beat North Edgecombe in their Christmas tournament. They were ranked third or fourth in the state at the time and nobody thought we had a chance except the guys who were sitting on the bench with us that night.”

The Knights also defied the odds when they beat perennial powerhouse and Four Rivers Conference regular season co-champions Plymouth four times this season, with the last time garnering them a sectional championship.

“When you play those guys and they play us we know what each other is going to do,” Williams said. “They have great athletes. You know you have to stop the guys like (Carl) McCray and Ronnell Blount and hope to contain the other guys. It’s the same for them too. But in each one of those four games either Marcus (the WDN player of the year), Tremaine or Ramelle had one of their best games of the season. But it’s the little things that allow you to win, like a guy like Trevon Rodgers getting eight points and three or four rebounds or a Demonte James giving us seven points and five rebounds. Your main three are going to get theirs. Our success came from what the role guys gave us.”

The Knights’ success may have at times hinged on its role players, but it’s up to the coach to bring the best out of each player on its roster. Williams’ ability to do that not only made Riverside dangerous this year, but will make them a team to watch out for in the future.