WEST BURLINGTON, Iowa — The tables were turned on the Three Rivers men's basketball team Saturday in the Missouri-Iowa Challenge.

After rallying from a 14-point second-half deficit to win the previous afternoon, the Raiders were the ones being chased.

Keith Kiner's 3-pointer with 73 seconds remaining put the Raiders up five while Lamar Wilkerson sank five free throws in the final 30 seconds to help Three Rivers hold off Marshalltown (Iowa) 76-70 at Southeastern Community College.

"He was in foul trouble, so really good to see him out there late," Raiders coach Brian Bess said of Kiner, who picked up his fourth foul with just under 16 minutes to play.

Wilkerson scored a game-high 31 while Paul Greene had a double-double with 11 points and 14 rebounds. Kinyon Hodges also scored 11 with three assists, three steals and six rebounds for the Raiders (3-2).

Marshalltown (2-3), which lost by a point to State Fair on Friday, cut a 17-point deficit down to a bucket with a 25-11 run.

Bess said the Tigers went to a zone defense the last six minutes.

"We struggled with it a little bit and started playing not to lose," Bess said. "Finally we fought through all that."

Marshalltown scored seven straight to get within 68-66 with 1:30 left but Kiner knocked down an open 3.

The Tigers got a putback slam with 36 seconds left to get within 71-68 and fouled Wilkerson, who sank both foul shots. Wilkerson came away with a long rebound off a miss by the Tigers and was sent to the line again with 12.3 seconds to go, splitting a pair.

Wilkerson went to the line again with 6 seconds left where he sank two more foul shots.

"Lamar was upset with himself for missing one (free throw)," Bess said of Wilkerson's 10 for 11 performance at the line.

Wilkerson, who scored 32 at St. Louis on Feb. 3 last season, had his third 30-point performance in his 13th game by sinking 8 of 16 shots from the field, including 5 of 10 from 3-point range. He also scored 29 in Friday's win.

"Two good games in a row," Bess said. "He's been hot and we've been running sets for him, getting him off to a better start too."

Wilkerson scored 15 of the first 22 points for the Raiders with three 3-pointers as Three Rivers led by seven. His 3-pointer later capped a 7-0 run to push the lead to 32-21 before leaving the game with an injury.

Three Rivers finished the half with a 13-5 run led by Hodges who finished it with a putback dunk as the Raiders led 39-26 at halftime.

A 3-pointer by Wilkerson to open the scoring in the second half put the Raiders up 17.

Midway through the second half the lead was 13 before David Roberts, who led Marshalltown with 20 points, capped an 8-2 run to get the Tigers within 10 with 6 1/2 minutes to play.

The Raiders led by nine when Greene got a putback before another putback, this time a slam by Kiner, again put Three Rivers up 11.

"Paul had a really good game," Bess said of Greene, who shot 5 of 9 from the field. "He really rebounds and he's really tough. He's done a good job."

The Tigers got within 65-59 when Shannon Strickland answered with a 3-pointer with 3:16 left but Marshalltown scored the next seven points.

After shooting 53% from the field in the first half, Three Rivers shot 37% after the break while the Tigers went from shooting 29% to 53%.

Three Rivers returns home to host Lincoln Trail (Ill.) at 7 p.m. Tuesday.

Story courtesy of The Daily American Republic