The Riverdale Rebels, behind a strong performance from Adam Jones, upset the Trinity Saints 72-67 Saturday night in Minden, La., to win the MPSA South A State championship.

It was indeed an upset considering Riverdale has no seniors and was the No. 3 seed from District 5A and Trinity is the defending South State champion.

The Saints tried everything to stop Jones, who finished with a game-high 33 points and had nine rebounds, three blocked shots and two steals.

Bobby Craig kept the Saints (24-6) in the game in the first half with 14 points and hit four three-pointers, three in the first quarter.

Trinity trailed 16-13 as Craig’s third three of the half went in just before the buzzer sounded.

Trinity took a 27-20 lead about midway through the second quarter before Riverdale outscored the Saints 12-4 to take a 32-31 halftime lead. After an exchange of threes by Riverdale’s Brent Hardy and Trinity’s John Bass, the Rebels size and speed took over as the Rebels had as much as an 11-point lead with under two minutes left.

Craig led the Saints with 18 points. Thomson had 14 points and six rebounds. Chad Ridley had 12 points, seven rebounds and four steals and hit a three at the end of the game.

Jason Bell finished with 15 points and 12 rebounds for the Rebels, who will be the No. 1 seed from the South Division in next week’s MPSA Class A State Tournament. Trinity will be the No. 2 seed from the South Division.

In the girls consolation game, the Lady Saints lost to the Tensas Lady Chiefs 49-42.

The Lady Saints played without Ashley Kingsafer due to an ankle injury she suffered in a semifinal loss to Riverdale.

The Lady Saints jumped out to an 11-2 lead thanks to Sara Greer, who had nine points in the first quarter. Trinity led Tensas 20-19 at halftime but was outscored by the Lady Chiefs 30-22 in the second half.

Greer finished with 18 points and 12 rebounds, the Lady Saints’ only player to score in double figures.

The Lady Saints will be the No. 4 seed from the South Division and the Lady Chiefs will be the No. 3 seed in the State Tournament.