PARK HILLS — It wasn't the prettiest win of the season for the Three Rivers College men's basketball team, but the Raiders will take it nonetheless.
Three Rivers led the Lake Land Lakers wire-to-wire and by as many as 25 points early in the second half, then held off a late rally in a 97-89 win Friday in the first game of the Bob Sechrest Classic on the campus of Mineral Area College.
"The guys did a great job of opening up the game with intensity, unselfish play and having each other's backs — and playing the way the Raiders have always played, with a lot of toughness, some grit and some grind," Three Rivers coach Robert Kirby said. "We built a good lead, but unfortunately, we're such a young team as far as understanding what's going on and how to maintain a lead — and build on it. We've still got a lot of work to do in that area."
The Raiders (4-3) needed just 75 seconds to jump out to an 8-0 lead and set the tempo Friday, thanks in part to back-to-back 3-pointers by Josiah Cotto and Antonio Williams, respectively.
Three Rivers continued to control the game during the first half, taking its first double-digit lead of the game on Tristin Fleming's free throws with 9:50 left in the first half and opening up a 37-18 lead on Matt Hampton's dunk with just over five minutes left before the intermission.
However, the Lakers (1-3) did not give up, cutting the lead to 41-31 on Jay Summitt's triple in front of the Raiders' bench with 79 seconds left in the half as Lake Land trailed by 12 points (45-33) at halftime.
After Loic Affoumon's layup just under a minute into the second half got the Lakers back within 10 points at 45-35, Three Rivers went on a 17-2 run, taking a 62-37 lead on Hampton's free throws with 13:49 left in the game to seemingly break the game open.
Not quite.
Back-to-back-to-back treys by Lake Land cut the Raiders' lead to 62-46 with 12:09 remaining in the game as the Lakers began to mount a comeback.
Hampton's three-point play with 6:37 remaining pushed the lead to 80-63 and gave Three Rivers some breathing room, but the Lakers continued to whittle away at the lead and finally got within single digits (87-78) with 2:58 to go.
Hampton's basket with 1:46 remaining put the Raiders ahead 91-80, but a three-point play by Stevie Tatum made it a 92-88 game with 75 seconds remaining before Three Rivers stopped the bleeding and held on for the win.
"They did a good job of mounting a comeback (against us), of getting us to play too fast in the backcourt against the press," Kirby said.
Hampton paced the Raiders with 22 points, while Tristin Fleming added 21, Johann Pautsch had 14, Cotto contributed 11, Williams had nine and Davin Francis finished with seven. Pautsch also blocked three shots, while Hampton added three steals.
Tatum paced Lake Land with 20 points, while Payton Baird had 19.
Three Rivers is back at Mineral Area on Saturday to take on Wabash Valley at the Bob Sechrest Classic. Tipoff is slated for 3 p.m.
Notes: In Friday's second game at the Bob Sechrest Classic, Mineral Area defeated Wabash Valley 98-65. ... The Raiders will play their next home game a week from Saturday against Southern Arkansas University Tech. Tipoff time next Saturday will be 4 p.m. at the Libla Family Sports Complex. ... Before the Raiders face SAU Tech next Saturday, the Lady Raiders will take on Vincennes at 2 p.m. at the Libla Family Sports Complex. ... There will also be a pair of high school games next Saturday at the Libla Family Sports Complex. Neelyville's girls will face Woodland at 11:30 a.m. next Saturday, while the boys take on Summersville at 6 p.m., after the Three Rivers-SAU Tech game.
Mike Buhler - Daily American Republic