Three Rivers College men's basketball had played a loaded schedule in preparation for the Region XVI slate and Wednesday night's opener at home against State Fair Community College.
It might have been quite the preparatory slate as the Raiders went 5-7 heading into its contest against the Roadrunners as the teams exchanged momentum and needed overtime to settle things.
In the end State Fair had just that little extra and survived a last Raiders possession in an attempt to play five more minutes and beat Three Rivers 69-66.
Three Rivers (5-8, 0-1) was led by Jordan Hamilton (17 points), Mo Niang (16 points), Makur Jongkuch (13 points) and Lamont Jackson (10 points) as they were held to 38.8 percent shooting.
Three Rivers had built a 57-49 lead with six minutes left but then saw the visiting Roadrunners go on a 12-2 run to take a 61-59 lead with just about two minutes to go.
A basket by Makur Jongkuch tied the game at 61-all and a defensive stop by the Raiders gave them back the ball with 28.7 seconds left to go in a tie contest.
However, the final touch was unsuccessful in a search for a winner and off to overtime the two teams headed.
The offenses bogged down early in the extra session and the Roadrunners led 63-61 before a Niang triple put Three Rivers squad up 64-63 with 2:27 remaining.
The Roadrunners took the lead two possessions later and despite that Three Rivers could not capitalize with a costly turnover in the middle of the minutiae.
Each team manufactured two points on their next possessions leaving the Roadrunners with a 67-66 lead at 14.3 and a timeout called.
Two State Fair free throws and a defensive stand that denied the Raiders a clean look at an equalizer sent the hosts to a disappointing defeat.
The Raiders fell off early as SFCC ran out to an 11-2 edge over the first five minutes as their offense struggled to get a clean look and turned it over a few times under minimal pressure.
Slowly the Raiders started to figure themselves out as they pulled within 17-13 with nine minutes left in the first half only to see State Fair jack the lead back up to a game-high 23-13 edge.
Then Three Rivers got a bit of mojo as Niang hit a triple and a layup while Hamilton buried a pair of trey-bombs and within five minutes they led 26-25.
The Roadrunners reclaimed the lead a few seconds later and the two squads duked it out for the next few minutes.
The Three Rivers basket closed for dinner hours and security would rarely let anything by for the next few minutes as SFCC headed into the intermission up 31-30, but the last segment of play was a harbinger of potentially a very competitive second half.
Three Rivers shot 32 percent in the first half compared to 48 percent for the Roadrunners, but SFCC had eight turnovers compared to the Raiders three and those extra possessions came in handy.
A Jackson triple just north of the 17-minute mark after halftime gave Three Rivers a 37-35 lead and a Roadrunner turnover led to a Jongkuch layup for a four-point cushion for the host.
Out of a timeout, Niang buried a triple to give Three Rivers its biggest lead at that point, 42-37.
A minute later, Niang hit a three and suddenly the Raiders led 45-37 with 15 minutes to go.
The Roadrunners were not running away from this fight and slowly chipped away as they slowed the Raiders roll and trailed by two three minutes later. Ultimately, they would tie the game on their next possession only to see Three Rivers push their edge up to 57-49 before State Fair decided to change the narrative.
Alan Dale - Daily American Republic