Raiders show finishing touch in taking down State Fair

Lessons learned meant a Three Rivers College men’s basketball win Saturday night.

After building a big lead against State Fair CC in December at the Libla Family Sports Complex, the Raiders saw all that work go up in smoke as they shockingly fell in overtime.

This time, the Raiders knew better and despite a few hiccups found a way to put away the visiting Roadrunners in an 83-72 win to take the season series 2-1 and move to 12-14 overall this season.

Leading the way was Mo Niang who had a blistering performance in multiple aspects of the game in route to a career-best 38-point performance while Lamont Jackson and Mario Fleming chipped in with 12 and 10 points respectively.

“They beat us for their only win this season and we made a point to make everybody ready because that was the motivation and it helped,” Three Rivers head coach Brian Bess said. “Mo had a nice game. He is shooting the ball as well as anybody I have ever coached. Other teams are figuring it out – St. Louis CC ran a box-and-one. When other teams figure it out, I don’t know how we will figure it out. If they take Mo out, I don’t know who else can shoot that well (from three).

“I love the growth. We have had some guys who have really improved and that’s the key. We have only nine dressing out and we have four games left. Wouldn’t it be nice (to finish .500). We’ll give it a shot.”

Three Rivers returns to action 7 p.m. Wednesday at Mineral Area College.

The offensive woes the Raiders dealt with at times during the season started up again from the tip, but thankfully their defense was good enough to keep an advantage even if it was only 6-2 through the first six minutes.

Niang then got turned up to high heat for a quick stretch and when he hit another 3-bomb known for being taken and made from across the state lines, the Raiders led 11-2 about 90 seconds later.

Then Niang ignited a response with a steal and full-court sprint with the rock before flushing it with two hands with 9:20 left in the first half.

The momentum from the dunk carried Into the rest of the half and the Raiders offense trended upward into a sudden 37-21 lead.

The difference this night was the Raiders were able to stay on the wave of momentum they failed to capitalize on when the teams last met in Poplar Bluff.

The Raiders didn’t let up offensively and even though the Roadrunners offense was improved it wasn’t enough to put a dent on the margin through the first 10 minutes of the second half.

However, a 9-0 run by the Greyhounds led to some additional Raider sweat as they pulled within 58-50 with 9:07 to go in the game.

From that point, the Raiders finished so much better than the previous outing at the Libla and despite State Fair’s best efforts, they would go home packing the L on this night.