Raider rally falls short against MAC in Region XVI semis

JEFFERSON CITY, Missouri — It might not be a stretch to say Friday's Region XVI Tournament men's basketball semifinal contest between the third-seeded Three Rivers Raiders and No. 2 Mineral Area College was a microcosm of the Raiders' season.

The Raiders trailed by as many as 17 points in the second half, but fought back to get within one possession late in the game before falling 78-69 to MAC at Jason Gym.

Three Rivers ends with a record of 14-17.

As much as the Raiders battled against this season, it would be hard to blame the team for feeling snakebit.

“Our season was filled with a lot of adversity,” Three Rivers coach Brian Bess said. “From a bus crash to a player breaking his leg to several other injuries — and we had the hardest schedule in the nation.”

The injury tally includes at least three starters — B.J. Francis, Makur Jongkuch and Jordan Hamilton — with Jongkuch's season ending in January after a compound fracture of his tibia in a game at Moberly Area.

The tough schedule includes six games against teams in the NJCAA's top five — John A. Logan, Moberly Area and Indian Hills — plus seven more against teams that were in the top 25 at some point.

Friday's game typified the Raiders' season-long struggles against odds.

Three Rivers shot just 33% from the field in the first half (8-for-24) and trailed 31-22 at the intermission.

After the break, the Raiders cut the MAC lead to 10 points on several occasions, but the Cardinals seemed to always have an answer, shooting a blistering 8-for-10 from 3-point range in the second half — including several from Za-Ontay Boothman.

Martice Mitchell's triple midway through the second half staked MAC to a 60-43 lead — and the Cardinals seemed on the verge of breaking the game open.

But the battle-tested Raiders did not go away. Mo Niang's basket with 7:27 left in the game finally got the Raiders' deficit under 10 points at 61-53.

After Boothman added a 3 and a two-point basket to push the Cardinal lead to 66-53, Three Rivers went on a 12-2 run, making it a 68-65 game on Niang's 3-pointer with 3:25 to go.

After a Dior Connors 3 stopped the run, Niang sank a pair of free throws with 2:53 to go to cut the Raider deficit to 71-67. However, MAC scored seven straight points to seal the game.

Hosana Kitenge led the Raiders with 17 points, while Niang added 15, Caleb Young had 14 and Mario Fleming finished with 10.

“Hosana played really hard,” Bess said. “They could not stop him.”

Boothman paced the Cardinals with 19 points, while Dylan Williams added 14, Conners had 13 and Ibrahim Drame finished with 12.