Welcome home Three Rivers men's basketball, the Richard Daley Bulldogs were not happy to see you.
That's because the Bulldogs stood in the way of the Raiders and a strong start to the home side of the 2022-23 basketball slate — and Three Rivers was determined to make a good impression.
A 94-54 win was just what the doctor ordered as Three Rivers rolled behind another four double-figure player scoring effort and an early run that made for a nice 2-0 start to the season.
The Raiders wrap up the two-day event 7 p.m. Saturday against John A. Logan.
John A. Logan defeated Mineral Area College 75-63 to open up the classic earlier Friday evening. Mineral Area College battles Richard Daley earlier Satuday at 5 p.m. The Lady Raiders open up the day with the Drury Inn Classic at 1 p.m. against Wabash Valley CC.
Jordan Hamilton led the Raiders for a second straight night, scoring 18 points, while Caleb Young, Mo Niang and Mario Fleming all chipped in with a dozen apiece.
Three Rivers shot 53 percent from the field, compared to the Bulldogs 33 percent, and the Raiders won the battle of the boards 55-27 with Young and Hamilton each snaring eight apiece.
"It's a good start tonight and it feels good to be 2-0," Three Rivers head coach Brian Bess said. "Everybody got to play a few minutes. In the first half, we were little selfish, trying to get our points.
"We had a lead (in the first half) and we were sloppy. That's going to happen. We were dribbling … and trying to do a little extra. That's the AAU part of the game and everyone is having to adjust to that. I like it if you work on the game and handle the ball well — it's just sometimes we take extra dribbles."
The Raiders built up on an 18-point halftime lead early in the second half, as the solid shooting and defense from the onset continued with a 12-3 run over the first six minutes of the second session to go up 58-31.
The Bulldogs would stay pesky and used an 8-0 run to inch toward respectability at 58-39 at just north of 12 minutes left in the game.
Then Three Rivers said enough with that nonsense and two free throws by Makue Jongkuch had the Raiders up 70-39 with 9:40 left — and the last 580 ticks would be ceremonial.
The first half needed a little bit of time to get things rolling and it was the Raiders who had the early bounty of success.
A solid if not spectacular 17-2 run gave the Raiders a 19-7 lead just north of the 10-minute mark, but then things got a bit tense.
Richard Daley makes up for an occasional lack of elite skill with plenty of grit and the Bulldogs battled back to within 31-24 about five minutes later.
Bess called timeout, Three Rivers calmed its jets and flew out to a 46-28 edge going into the halftime break.
Hamilton had 10 points to lead the Raiders while Young and Niang both scored eight. The Raiders shot 51.5 percent from the field as they held Richard Daley to 36.4 percent.
However, after committing only seven turnovers all game in an opening win at Olney Central, Three Rivers had nine in the first 20 minutes against the Bulldogs.
"Seven is a magical game, that doesn't happen very often," Bess said.
He also noted that the Raiders have to focus on trying to stick to what they do more than falling into the trap of identifying more with the opponent, such as the Bulldogs Helter Skelter approach.
"We have a tendency to play to the level of our competition, but that might be great (Saturday) because John A. Logan is really athletic and talented," Bess said. "The winning formula is not playing to the level of the competition. It's college basketball and there is always some nerves and it's college basketball. The game is faster than high school and it's a learning experience."
Alan Dale - Daily American Republic