The Raiders entered their contest against MAC with a chance to secure the top seed in the Region XVI Tournament, but a poor shooting performance sank the team in a 61-53 loss to the Cardinals.

"The guys fought extremely hard and I'm very proud of the effort that they gave," Three Rivers men's coach Robert Kirby said. "We were trying so very hard to get it right, but we kept getting it wrong. Give credit to Mineral Area — they did an outstanding job of coming in here prepared to play as hard as they could possibly play."

The Raiders (19-9, 7-4) never led as they had just one point through the game's first 7 1/2 minutes until Allen Stoddard's putback dunk with 12:18 to go in the first half, shot just 30% from the field (18-for-60) and missed 15 of their 26 free throws.

"We just couldn't get shots to fall — and so much of that is the mental side of it from the guys trying so hard to make the families proud, the past Raiders proud and everything else," Kirby said. "They just couldn't relax. I kept telling them the whole first half, 'Just relax, guys. You're trying too hard. Just relax.' They just kept thinking they were going to get a break there and get on a run, and it just never happened."

Davin Francis popped a 3-pointer in front of the Three Rivers bench just 10 seconds into the second half to cut the MAC lead to 30-28, but that was as close as the Raiders got the rest of the way — though Drew Ward's triple with 2:07 to go cut the Mineral Area lead to 55-51.

Ward paced Three Rivers with 13 points, while Francis added 11 and Antonio Williams had. Johann Pautsch added eight rebounds, while Matt Hampton had seven rebounds and seven assists, the duo of Williams and Stoddard each had six rebounds and Ward had a pair of steals.

Maki Joyned came off the bench to lead the Cardinals with 20 points, while Terron Garrett added 10, Nassir Binion had nine, Nazir Allen contributed seven and Ngundeng Ruey finished with six. Ruey also had 10 rebounds and three blocked shots, while Allen added seven rebounds and Gareett had severn assists and a pair of steals.

The Raiders still have an outside chance at the top seed, but must win next Saturday at Missouri State-West Plains and also get a lot of help. The Raiders could also finish as the second or third seed.

Mike Buhler - Daily American Republic