Three Rivers' Adam Carpenter dribbles in the first half Saturday against Lewis & Clark in Godfrey, Ill. Carpenter scored 11 points in the Raiders' 64-53 win. (Alex Abate/DAR) [Click to enlarge]

By ALEX ABATE ~ Staff Writer

GODFREY, Ill. -- The Three Rivers Raiders came into a matchup against Lewis & Clark looking to end a two-game skid and did just that Saturday.

The Raiders beat the Blazers 64-53 to improve their record to 3-2 on the young season.

"Our kids were pretty competitve, that was a pretty nice team there," Raiders coach Gene Bess said. "I look for them to do well in Division II. I thought we beat a good team."

Marquise Carter led the Raiders with 14 points, while Aloysius Henry had 13 points and 11 rebounds.

Three Rivers made its move just minutes into the second half. After Lewis & Clark had a quick hoop to start the second session, Three Rivers called a timeout. After the break, Ken Bingham made a basket at the 17:34 mark and struck again at the 16:41 mark, this time from 3-point range to give the Raiders a 33-26 lead.

"We know that is what we have to do, if we are going to be really in the mix, we are going to have to guard better in the half court," Bess said "Our press will give us a little something from time to time but the key is the half-court defense."

After the teams traded baskets, the Raiders got going again. Bingham hit in the lane and later in the 8-point run, Jamarcus Williams got an offensive rebound and made the basket to give Three Rivers a 43-33 edge with 12:40 left in the game.

As the game wound down, the teams traded hoops before the Raiders played solid defense to get the 11-point win

The Raiders had a 28-24 lead at the intermission thanks to a run midway through the first half. At the 10:40 mark, Williams got a putback after his own miss to put the Raiders ahead 18-14. After a free throw from Henry extended the Raiders lead, Josh Terry made a basket at the 9:10 mark to go up 21-14.

After a pair of baskets, one each from Chris Obi and Cordarell Eldridge for the Trailblazers, Adam Carpenter hit a long two at the 6:35 mark to give the Raiders a 23-18 lead and a moment later, Walker scored on a right baseline drive to make it 25-18.

The Raiders took an early lead in the game as they started the scoring with a Henry basket 13 seconds after tipoff. After a rare four-point play from Lewis & Clark's Trent Thomason, the Raiders struck back quickly.

Richard Walker made two free throws at the 18:04 mark and Henry scored from the right block and was fouled. He made his free throw which gave Three Rivers 7-4 lead at the 17:07 mark.

The Raiders kept the pressure on after a Lewis & Clark 3-pointer, Carter hit a long ball and on the next possession, Henry got an offensive putback that gave the Raiders a 12-7 lead and forced a Blazer timeout at the 15:24 mark.

Three Rivers out-rebounded the Blazers, 52-32.

In their two previous games, the Raiders were out-rebounded 77-54 during consecutive road losses to John A. Logan and 13th-ranked Southeastern Ill.

"I was kind of surprised that we rebounded as well as we did," Bess said. "As soon as we get (Jeremy) Marrs in the mix, we can play Jemarcus Williams more at the four, we can get a little more rebounding in the lineup at the same time."

Notes: The 53 points allowed by Three Rivers were the fewest this season. The Raiders are averaging 67.0 points allowed per game but scoring 71.4. … The Raiders' 21 turnovers Saturday matched their season high against John A. Logan, which will be at the Bess Activity Center on Tuesday night. … Carter's 14 points to lead Three Rivers lowered his season average to 19.6 points.