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Raiders hold off Logan for 2-0 start
The Robert Kirby era of Three Rivers College men's basketball is off to a great start.
The Raiders improved to 2-0 on the season Saturday night with a 60-57 victory over the John A. Logan Volunteers on the final night of the First Midwest Bank Tournament of Champions — the first time in five years Three Rivers has swept its annual home-opening tournament.
“It was a great battle from the standpoint of two very good teams battling out,” Kirby said. “Fortunately, we were able to come out with a victory. John A. Logan is very well-coached and they did a great job of running their stuff and executing it. They made a good run down the stretch there to tighten the game up for us.
“(I thought it was great) for our guys to step up at crunch time, make the right plays, share the ball and do all the dirty work, get those 50-50 balls, those rebounds that you've got to have, those stops that you have to have — and those layups that you have to make at critical times in the game.”
Kevin Peleyron's free throw with 13:08 left in the game put the Raiders ahead 46-32, but Logan chipped away and trailed just 54-50 with 4 1/2 minutes left when Allen Stoddard chased down Volunteer freshman Taylor Smith and blocked his layup from behind, denying the basket and forcing a jump ball to give Three Rivers the ball back.
“One of the key points in the game, I thought, was the big block that Allen ran and got from behind, blocked it and pinned it to the glass,” Kirby said. “I thought that was a big turning point of the whole game, and it really gave us a lot of energy at the time.”
Logan did not give up, cutting the Raiders lead to 54-52 on a pair of Davius Loury free throws with 3:52 left in the contest, but Demetris “Meechie” White drained a pair of free throws with 3:06 left to push the lead back to four points (56-52).
Three Rivers was clinging to a 59-57 lead with 18.8 seconds left when White drained a free throw to make it 60-57. Logan had a chance to tie the game in the final seconds, but Smith's potential game-tying 3-pointer banked off the left side of the rim and allowed the Raiders to escape with the win.
Three Rivers held the Volunteers to just 31% shooting from the field (18-for-58) on Saturday and blocked nine shots, led by four from White and two apiece from Peleyron and Johann Pautsch.
“One thing that we really wanted to emphasize is we want to play defense the Raider Way,” Kirby said. “That was a big part of what we tried to do early. We wanted to make sure our defense was ahead of our offense. We're still trying to iron out the offensive plays and how we want to run (them) and how we want to play with our defense. But they've bought into it. They enjoy playing it, and we're just going to keep pushing ourselves to get better every night.”
Matt Hampton led the Raiders with 20 points, while White added 11 and Deion Wesson added eight off the bench. Robert “Deuce” Alexander led the Raiders with six rebounds — and has yet to turn the ball over this season — while White had four assists and Ethan Johnson had two steals off the bench.
“We were blessed enough to get the right people early in our recruiting process,” Kirby said. “We signed some good players — and each and every one of those guys are high-character guys that enjoy working and enjoy being there for their brother. We're big on family and we're big on character — and that's obvious what the program has been built on forever, and that's what we try to make sure we've got recruited.
“Those guys have come in and done an outstanding job of understanding what we're trying to get accomplished as a unit. We're always preaching family and we do everything as one — and those guys … have come from all over the world, but they've bought into being good brothers to each other.”
Smith led Logan with 13 points, while Loury added 12 and the duo of Julian Norris Jr. and Jayden Miles each had 11.
The Raiders are back in action Tuesday when they head down Highway 67 to take on Arkansas State-Newport. Tipoff is slated for 6 p.m.
FRIDAY'S GAME
Three Rivers 94, Dyersburg State 61
The Raiders dominated from tip to buzzer in their season opener, substituting liberally as all 14 healthy players on the roster broke into the scoring column.
Alexander led the Raiders with 17 points five rebounds and eight assists while committing zero turnovers. White added 15 points, Hampton had 13, Wesson added nine and William Patterson finished with eight. Hampton and Patterson each had two blocks, while Sikou Diagouraga and Antonio Williams each had six rebounds.
Elijiah Causly led Dyersburg State with 13 points