POPLAR BLUFF – Three Rivers and Moberly Area battled for the second spot in the Region XVI seeding, but in the end it was the Greyhounds that came out on top by a score of 64-52 on Wednesday in the Libla Family Sports Complex.
From Radiers coach Brian Bess' perspective from the bench, Moberly was able to contain Three Rivers' Lamar Wilkerson early with a couple of early fouls that put him on the bench in foul trouble while the rest of the team did not play to their full potential.
"We did some things out of character (Wednesday) and I don't really know what's going on there," Bess said. "Jimmy Bell was really good for them with 13 points and 16 rebounds and Sincere Parker with 18 points. We knew what we had to do going into the game and hopefully we get another shot at them in the Region XVI Tournament."
With the loss on Wednesday, the Raiders now sit in third in the Region XVI standings behind Mineral Area and Moberly Area.
"We used that as motivation going into (Wednesday)," Bess said "Basically we wanted to be the team that wore white in the tournament."
The Raiders only had a couple of guys in double figures with Shannon Strickland scoring 13 points while Keith Kiner had 11. Paul Greene also had a good game with nine points and nine rebounds.
Moberly (20-7, 5-3 XVI) was able to get out to a 16-12 lead in the first eight minutes of play and both teams only managed to score 10 points from there as the Greyhounds held a 36-22 lead at halftime over the Raiders (15-10, 5-5 XVI).
From there, the Raiders tried to claw their way back into the game, but were unable to get over the hump as Moberly took the all important region win.
Three Rivers will look to bounce back at State Fair on Saturday as they'll tip off at 7:30 p.m. after the women's game.
"The State Fair game will be just as important as far as the seeding goes," Bess said. "We still need to go in and get a win in order to be in a good spot for the region tournament."
Robert Augsdorfer - Daily American Republic