Moberly pulls away in second half to beat Raiders

MOBERLY, Missouri — The Three Rivers Raiders men’s basketball team hoped to go into the Region XVI playoffs this week with some serious momentum — and that it might include a big performance against nationally-ranked Moberly Area College.

However, the host Greyhounds would not allow for any feel-good stories for the visiting Raiders Saturday — and despite Three Rivers’ best efforts to make matters contested, ultimately it was all Moberly as the Raiders fell 86-67.

Three Rivers (14-16, 5-7 Region XVI) will be the No. 3 seed in the Region XVI tournament, where the Raiders will take on No. 2 Mineral Area at 6 p.m. Friday at Lincoln University in Jefferson City. No. 1 Moberly will play 4 p.m. Friday in the other semifinal against the winner of the State Fair-West Plains play-in contest on Tuesday night.

The Region XVI title game is 6 p.m. Saturday, again at Lincoln University in Jefferson City.

Leading the way for the Raiders against Moberly were Mo Niang (15 points), Mario Fleming and Hosane Kitenge (14 each) and Lamont Jackson (12).

“Our junk defenses really worked for about 24 minutes and then they started making some tough shots,” Three Rivers head coach Brian Bess said. “Then we got a couple of guys in foul trouble that hurt us. Overall, we didn’t quit, but they showed they were the No. 5 team in the nation.

“We took care of the ball against their presses better — we only had 14 turnovers this time and 25 at our place.”

The Raiders were down by double digits for a large chunk of the first half, but slowly the squad got its mojo and suddenly crept to within 28-22 on a Fleming bucket.

The deficit got even smaller, 28-24, but the Greyhounds (27-3, 12-0) were able to stave off any more damage inflicted on them by Three Rivers and were able to move into the locker room with a 33-29 lead at halftime.

Three Rivers saw the deficit stretch into double digits in the first five minutes after halftime and the Raiders had to begin another grind in trying to make things interesting.

As the half wound down, the Raiders kept things manageable until the latter stages and the Greyhounds continued to go on the attack and slowly pulled away for a reasonably comfortable win.