Raiders fall at State Fair in battle for third in Region 16

SEDALIA — Injuries and a lack of bodies proved to be a little too much to overcome Wednesday night for the Three Rivers College men’s basketball team.

The Raiders played just eight players — six of whom played more than 180 of the game’s 200 minutes — and came up just short in an 81-76 loss to the State Fair Roadrunners in Region 16 action at the Davis Multipurpose Center.

With the loss, TRC (13-16, 3-8 Region 16) is locked into the No. 4 seed in the Region 16 tournament. The Raiders will host No. 5 seed Missouri State-West Plains at 7 p.m. Tuesday at the Libla Family Sports Complex.

“We’re a little shorthanded and we don’t have much size right now,” Three Rivers coach Brian Bess said. “But that was a very winnable game. I’m disappointed, but that’s kind of where we’re at right now.”

The Raiders found out this week sophomore Anthony Sellars, the team’s leading scorer, has a microfracture in his knee which will end his season and might also require surgery. He joins freshmen Bryce Wallace and Devarious Montgomery as the third player to have his season end prematurely because of injury.

“Not good,” Bess said of the team’s health. “But we’ll have to go with what we’ve got. We’ve got a 6-2 post player starting for us, D.J. Prater.”

The Roadrunners capitalized on Three Rivers’ lack of size Wednesday as they held a 38-24 edge on the boards.

State Fair led the Raiders 38-30 at halftime, but TRC pulled within one point (59-58) on Joey Thomas layup with 9:16 remaining in the game before State Fair extended its edge again.

Gemani Charles drained a 3-pointer with six seconds left to cut the Roadrunners’ lead to 79-76, but that was as close as Three Rivers got.

Thomas came off the bench to lead the Raiders with 24 points, while Faheim Meran added 15, Demetris “Meechie” White had 11, Robert Alexander chipped in eight and the duo of Charles and Caleb Young each finished with seven.

“I thought he stepped it up and was scoring well (Wednesday) night,” Bess said of Thomas. “He was really active and shot it well. He had a good game.”

The Raiders host Mineral Area Saturday evening at the Libla Family Sports Complex. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m.

One positive note for Saturday is freshman Kyle Edison, who has missed the Raiders’ last two games, is expected to be available Saturday.

“We need to start playing well,” Bess said. “It’s that time of year — it’s March Madness. We could see (Mineral Area) again second round (in the semifinals) if we get past West Plains (Tuesday). It’s one of those deals where we’ve got to be playing well.”

__Recruiting update__

One silver lining for the Raiders in the midst of their recent struggles is Bess is optimistic about his team’s recruiting class for next season.

“I think we’ve signed seven so far,” Bess said. “We like all of our guys that we’ve signed. I think we’re excited about what we have coming.”

Bess said the team has signed 3-4 point guards and have signed some players with some size.

“We’re excited about our recruits,” Bess said.