Raiders escape Jeffco with a win

HILLSBORO, Mo. — The Three Rivers Raiders embodied the cliché of “sometimes it's better to be lucky than good” at the end of Saturday's men's college basketball game against the Jefferson College Vikings.

Jefferson got within one point of the Raiders in the game's final seconds and had possession of the ball with a chance to win, but a timely steal of an inbounds pass allowed Three Rivers to escape with a 78-77 win and get back to .500.

“We were lucky to win,” Three Rivers coach Brian Bess said. “We'll take it (though). We didn't play well, but it's always nice to win.”

With less than a minute to go, Demetris “Meechie” White sank two free throws to give the Raiders a 78-75 lead, but Jefferson answered with two free throws of its own to make it a one-point game.

After Three Rivers missed the front end of a one-and-one, the Vikings had a chance to win the game, but Faheim Meran deflected Jefferson's inbound pass and teammate Gemani Charles grabbed it for a game-clinching steal.

The Raiders (13-13) got a big game from Anthony Sellars, who played for the first time in two weeks after spraining his knee at Moberly on Feb. 3. Sellars scored a game-high 25 points and pulled down 13 rebounds while also draining three of his five 3-point attempts.

“Sellars played really well,” Bess said. “He sprained his MCL against Moberly and was still really sore and gimpy on his knee, but really played well and was our go-to guy.”

Joining Sellars in double figure was White with 15 points, while Charles scored 13 off the bench and also had seven rebounds.

Jaylen Boyd led the Vikings with 18 points, while Kobe Branscomb added 14, Gabe Wathkins had 12 and former Raider — and Poplar Bluff High School graduate — Darian Webb had 10 points off the bench for Jefferson.

Three Rivers is back in action Wednesday at Region 16 rival Missouri State-West Plains. Tipoff time is 7 p.m. at the West Plains Civic Center.

“The rivalry between West Plains and us has been strong,” Bess said. “We really need to go over there, play well and win. We snuck out with an overtime win over there earlier. It's a tough place to play and should be a great challenge for us.”