PARK HILLS — The Three Rivers College men's basketball team came painfully close Saturday to ending its long drought of beating the Mineral Area College Cardinals on their home floor.
Despite trailing most of the game Saturday, the Raiders rallied to take a late lead, only to see MAC grab the lead back and hold on for a 59-57 win at Bob Sechrest Fieldhouse.
The loss is the first Region XVI loss of the season for Three Rivers (17-6, 5-1 Region XVI), who falls into a first-place tie in the region with the Cardinals (15-7, 5-1).
"MAC's very well-coached," Three Rivers coach Robert Kirby said. "They did a great job of coming out at the start of the game and hitting us in the mouth. We didn't quite respond to it like I thought we would.
"Some of it was just having a little bit of a false sense of security. We beat them at our place, so we weren't quite as screwed down as we needed to be mentally when it came to playing a tough opponent on the road on homecoming night."
The loss also extends a long drought for TRC against the Cardinals at Bob Sechrest Fieldhouse. Three Rivers has lost 11 in a row to MAC in Park Hills since last beating the Cardinals there on Feb. 16, 2019.
"They did a great job of stepping up and playing with a lot more intensity than they did the first game we played them," Kirby said. "They executed their offense (well) and when we made mistakes, they took advantage of them. You've got to give them credit for being prepared. They had seven days to prepare for us, and I think they made the most of them."
Edwon Duling Jr.'s free throws with 6:33 left in the game put Mineral Area ahead 54-47, but the Raiders did not give up, getting 3-pointers from Allen Stoddard and Drew Ward to cut the lead to 54-53 with 5:37 to go.
Ward then sank a pair of free throws with 4:51 left in regulation to give Three Rivers its first lead of the game at 55-54, then Matt Hampton's putback with 3:21 remaining capped the 10-0 run and gave TRC a 57-54 lead.
However, the Cardinals responded. Terron Garrett's jumper with 1:48 to go cut the Raiders' lead to 57-56, then Nassir Binion's free throw with 1:12 to go tied the score at 57.
Then with less than 30 seconds to go, Nazir Allen hit the go-ahead — and eventual winning — layup to make it 59-57 MAC. The Raiders had a chance at a tying or go ahead basket on the other end in the final seconds, but could not convert.
Antonio Williams led the Raiders with 14 points, while Allen Stoddard added 10, Hampton had nine and the duo of Ward and Josiah Cotto finished with eight apiece. Hampton had nine rebounds, while Williams added two steals and a pair of blocked shots. Ward also had a pair of steals.
Terron Garrett paced the Cardinals with 14 points, while Nazir Allen added 12, Maki Joyner had eight, while three players — Binion, Duling and Iziah Purvey — each finished with six. Garrett added seven rebounds and a pair of steals, while Binion had six rebounds and Allen blocked three shots.
Three Rivers is back in action Monday when it heads to Moberly for another region contest. Tipoff time is set for 7 p.m at Fitzsimmons-John Arena.
Mike Buhler - Daily American Republic