Three Rivers' Paul Greene (12) shoots in front of North Arkansas' Trent Lippoldt during the first half Thursday night, Dec. 9, 2021, at the Libla Family Sports Complex in Poplar Bluff, Mo.

DAR/Brian Rosener

The Three Rivers men's basketball team snapped a three game losing skid on Thursday as the Raiders defeated Division II opponent North Arkansas 89-70 at the Libla Family Sports Complex.

The Raiders were led by the big three as Keith Kiner scored 25 points, Kinyon Hodges added 18 and Lamar Wilkerson finished 13 points on the night while Paul Greene was a couple of buckets shy of a double-double as he had six points and 10 rebounds.

"We had a good win and everybody contributed," Raiders coach Brian Bess said. "We're in the middle of finals week so we knew it would be a test — pun intended — because it's a challenge with them studying all day and then they got to come out and focus on basketball."

Three Rivers' Kinyon Hodges (10) dunks during the first half Thursday night, Dec. 9, 2021, at the Libla Family Sports Complex in Poplar Bluff, Mo.

DAR/Brian Rosener

The North Arkansas squad featured a couple of locals that are alumni from Doniphan with Trent Lippoldt starting and recording 17 points and Orie Owen coming in for a few minutes in the second half.

"It's always good for guys on opposing teams to come home and play in front of their friends and family," Bess said. "Plus it wouldn't hurt if they saw something like Kinyon Hodges dunking and they come back and see us."

Three Rivers had a good start to the game as the Raiders were up 18-12 through the first seven minutes of play and had a double-digit lead by the three-minute mark of the first half as Kiner drained a bucket to make it 44-33 Raiders. The lead eventually extended to 51-38 at halftime.

Three Rivers' Keith Kiner, center, shoots between North Arkansas' Trent Lippoldt, back, and Ricardo Sutton (0) during the first half Thursday night, Dec. 9, 2021, at the Libla Family Sports Complex in Poplar Bluff, Mo.

DAR/Brian Rosener

The Raiders never gave up the lead in the second half despite not getting many foul calls to go their way in the final 20 minutes. Nevertheless, Three Rivers held on for the 19-point victory.

Three Rivers will have one more home game before the calendar flips to 2022 as it hosts Southern Arkansas University Tech on Saturday and will play them again on Jan. 1 at East Camden, Arkansas.

"Lamar is actually from around there, so we'll have a good turnout when we go down there to play them," Bess said. "They actually called me wanting to play us. They've beaten some good teams including Division I teams."

Tipoff for both games are scheduled for 7 p.m.

Three Rivers' Lamar Wilkerson (3) reaches for a loose ball controled by North Arkansas' Jahmya Brown-Jeffers during the first half Thursday night, Dec. 9, 2021, at the Libla Family Sports Complex in Poplar Bluff, Mo.

 

Robert Augsdorfer - Daily American Republic