POPLAR BLUFF – Three Rivers was able to give Motlow State their comeuppance Wednesday night to the tune of a 93-65 victory at the Libla Family Sports Complex. The Raiders previously lost to the Bucks 80-76 on the road back on Nov. 8.
"You could see at times how dangerous they are when we played down there," Raiders coach Brian Bess said. "They made a lot of tough shots in that game. We were in the right spots, but those tough shots were falling for them. We got off to a great start (Wednesday) and that helped us."
The Raiders had a notable scratch in the lineup Wednesday as Lamar Wilkerson was given the day off due to a migraine. His absence didn't matter in the grand scheme of things as Three Raiders hit double figures led by Jonathan Ninkingira coming off of the bench and contributing 16 points.
"Jon is a really good shooter," Bess said. "When John gets open, everybody on the team thinks that he's going to make it."
Shannon Strickland put up 15 points and Keith Kiner had 12. Samuel Taulapiu took Wilkerson's place in the starting lineup and he was able to contribute seven points in the win.
"Sam doesn't miss very often," Bess said. "He makes every shot in practice and if he misses, that's okay. Lamar has been that way since day one and that's why we have a lot of plays go through him, but we have other guys that when they're open, they're good shooters. Shannon is another guy that can shoot the ball and we've encouraged him to take more shots, but he'd rather be the facilitator and he wants to pass it."
The Raiders (10-8) came out of the gates in a dead sprint as they went on a 10-0 run in the first three minutes of the contest. From there, Three Rivers kept on building their lead as they had a 33-11 advantage with seven minutes to play in the first half.
Motlow State (3-15) couldn't figure out the Three River defense in the first half as the Raiders took a 51-29 lead into halftime.
The offense started to wake up for the Bucks as they went on an 18-11 run in the first seven minutes of the second half, but the Raiders had already established a comfortable lead for them to salt it away.
The Raiders will continue 'revenge week' with Missouri State-West Plains coming to town on Saturday night.
"We've been calling it 'revenge week' because we got to play Motlow (Wednesday), West Plains Saturday, Moberly Wednesday and State Fair next Saturday," Bess said. "We owe the next three teams something and it's helped the guys regain their focus."
Saturday's game will tip off at 7 p.m. at the Libla Family Sports Complex.
Robert Augsdorfer - Daily American Republic