The crowd in attendance for the final game of the Peoples Community Bank Thanksgiving Classic got their money's worth.

Three Rivers led by five with just under 2 minutes to play and finished strong to beat Northeastern Oklahoma A&M 69-58 at the Libla Family Sports Complex.

The Raiders got huge offensive performances by Keith Kiner and Lamar Wilkerson, who ended the night with 26 points apiece. Kinyon Hodges was also in double figures with 12 points.

Kiner set the tone early with 16 points in the first half.

"In the first half, I've got to give our players some credit for finding Keith in those spots," Raiders coach Brian Bess said. "They did a good job feeding him the ball and he was able to finish those."

Another player that stood out for the Raiders was Paul Greene as he had a Dennis Rodman type game with 15 rebounds — 12 of them on the defensive end — but zero points.

"Paul certainly knows his role," Bess said. "I tell him to get those rebounds and when he stops rebounding, I'll have to play someone else. But every time the ball goes up, I'm counting on him to go get it."

Kiner was hot early accounting for 12 of the Raiders' 14 points in the first 10 minutes of play, but the Golden Norsemen chipped away and made it 32-31 Three Rivers at halftime.

The visitors grabbed the lead right away in the second half, but Wilkerson lobbed it to Kiner for a dunk and Jonathan Ninkingira followed that up with a clutch bucket from beyond the ark to give the Raiders a 50-49 lead at the 10-minute mark.

"Keith, Lamar and Kinyon are our big three on the court and in the locker room," Bess said. "Jonathan came in and hit that big 3 for us and Shannon Strickland had some good passes so all of our guys contributed to the win."

The Raiders (6-4) will now look to region play as they'll travel to MSU-West Plains on Wednesday. They'll be back home next Saturday to take on Moberly Area.

Robert Augsdorfer - Daily American Republic