WILLIAMSTON — A hot start on both sides of the ball propelled Riverside to a 68-41 win over Four Rivers Conference rival Southside on Tuesday.
Entering the contest Riverside (16-7, 10-3) was looking to stay locked in a tie with Camden at second place in the conference standings and could not afford to look past the struggling Seahawks (4-15, 1-12).
The Knights kept their focus and rolled to a 16-5 first-quarter lead that matriculated into a 36-10 halftime advantage.
“We talked about coming out with a fast start,” Riverside coach Bobby Williams said. “We talked about how if this team wants to be playing in March then we have to get better each night.”
Williams’ call was answered as Tremaine Beach scored six first-quarter points while 6-8 center Marcus Freeman and Rick Hardison each scored 4 to get things going early.
Freeman would go on to lead the Knights with 12 points while Beach finished with eight and Mario Moore added 10.
Southside was guided by Rokeem Miller who scored a game-high 14 points but the team could not recover from its dismal first half.
“We came out sluggish. In the first quarter we took shots but nothing was dropping for us at all,” Southside coach Sean White said. “In the second quarter we were rushing down the court and not setting up our offense.”
Riverside continued to keep Southside at a distance in the second half and increased its lead to 50-17 on a Hardison basket.
By the end of the game the Knights got scoring from 11 players and were able to play unselfish basketball for the better part of four quarters. That’s a trend Williams is hoping continues.
“I thought overall we shared the ball and probably had more assists tonight than we’ve had this season,” Williams said. “We have to have five or six guys with eight or nine points as oppose to one guy with 25.”
Both teams will play its regular season finale tonight as Riverside will host South Creek and Southside will host Northside.

Southside    5    5    12    19    –    41
Riverside    16    20    18    14    –    68
Seahawks (41)
Rokeem Miller 14, Murray 7, Rodman 6, White 3, Jones 2, Pender 5, Collins 3.
Knights (41)
Freeman 2, Beathea 4, Beach 8, Marcus Freeman 12, Brown 2, Mario Moore 10, Whitehurst 2, Norfleet 2, Collier 4, Parker 2.