ULLIN, Ill. — It wasn't the prettiest victory, but the Three Rivers College men's basketball team will take it.
The Raiders saw the Shawnee Saints rally from a 21-point first-half deficit to tie the game late before Josiah Cotto's basket in the closing seconds lifted Three Rivers to a 66-64 win on Wednesday night.
With the win, the Raiders improve to 9-4 on the season and win their fifth game in a row.
"That's all that matters — we got the W," Three Rivers coach Robert Kirby said. "Sometimes you have those nights (with a lot of) unforced turnovers. … But the guys played extremely hard down the stretch and I'm proud of their resilience."
Three Rivers dominated the early stages of the game, going ahead 10-0 on Johann Pautsch's three-point play less than three minutes into Wednesday and kept the Saints scoreless from the field for more than 12 1/2 minutes to open the game. By the time Tyree Jackson scored Shawnee's first field goal 7:22 left in the first half, the Raiders led 25-11.
Drew Ward's basket with less than five minutes to go in the first half gave Three Rivers a 32-11 lead — its biggest of the game — and the rout seemed to be on, but the Saints (7-2) closed the half on a 14-4 run and trailed just 36-25 at the intermission.
Derek Shepard's free throw with 16:49 left in the game cut the Raiders' lead to 38-33, but back-to-back baskets by Matt Hampton — the latter a slam dunk — pushed the lead back to 10 points (44-34) with 14:45 left in the contest.
Cotto's 3-pointer with 13 minutes and change to go pushed the Raiders' lead to 49-36, but Shawnee continued to chip away, and Jackson's layup with 6:12 to go got Shawnee within two points at 56-54.
Cotto drained another triple from the corner with just under five minutes to go to make it 59-54 and give Three Rivers some breathing room, but the Raiders missed the front end of two one-and-ones to give Shawnee a chance.
James Deloach's free throws with less than a minute to go pulled the Saints within one point at 62-61. Hampton answered with a pair of free throws with 47 seconds left to push the Raider lead to 64-61, but Shepard's trey with less than 30 seconds left tied the score at 64, setting the stage for Cotto's game-winner.
Cotto scored a game-high 22 points on 9-for-12 shooting from the field, including 4-for-6 shooting behind the arc, to pace the Raiders, while Hampton added 14 and the duo of Pautsch and Davin Francis each finished with nine.
"He did an outstanding job of shooting on the night," Kirby said. "He had a really good feel for the game tonight from the standpoint of taking good open shots and shooting it confidently. He handled the ball really well and … had only a couple of turnovers."
Pautsch added nine rebounds to come up just short of a double-double, while Antonio Williams had eight rebounds and Hampton added seven. Hampton also had six assists, while Pautsch also blocked a pair of shots.
Shepard paced Shawnee with 19 points, while Jalen White added nine and the duo of Deloach and Alan King Jr. finished with eight apiece. White and Isreal Welton each added three steals, while Shepard and Jackson had two apiece.
As a team, Three Rivers held a 39-26 edge on the boards, but committed 21 turnovers as a team.
The Raiders are back in action Sunday when they head to St. Louis to take on Southwestern Illinois in the St. Louis Community College Shootout.
Mike Buhler - Daily American Republic