Three Rivers Hands Warriors Their First Loss

Park Hills, MO -- On Tuesday night, in its first road game of the season, Indian Hills was able to overcome a slow start to rally and defeat Kirkwood CC. The Warriors weren't as fortunate this time around, as No. 22-ranked Three Rivers CC jumped to an 8-0 lead and never lost the advantage in a 62-57 win over 11th-ranked IHCC on Friday night in the Bob Sechrest Classic.

After the early deficit, the Warriors fought back behind Gary Ricks' 11 first-half points. A basket just before the halftime buzzer by Kelvyn Valdez brought the Warriors to within four points, 30-26, at intermission.

The Three Rivers' lead was never more than seven points in the second half, but the Raiders didn't allow Indian Hills to get even. The Warriors were within two points after the first bucket of the second half and, again, about midway through the half, but couldn't make a key defensive stop when they needed to.

Dijon Farr's layup with 49.8 seconds to play pulled IHCC within three at 60-57, but the Warriors didn't score again. They missed two shots and committed a turnover while Three Rivers was missing four straight free throws. Finally, Hunter Gibson made two foul shots for the Raiders to provide the final margin.

Ricks was the lone Indian Hills player in double figures with 20. Rudy Harrell led Three Rivers with 15.

Indian Hills will try to bounce back against tournament host Mineral Area College on Saturday night.

THREE RIVERS 62, INDIAN HILLS 57

INDIAN HILLS Stephen Coles 1 2-2 4, Jerome Jones 3 0-0 7, Derrick Hill 0 1-2 1, Dijon Farr 3 3-6 9, Kelvyn Valdez 3 0-2 6, Bruno Ferreira 0 0-0 0, Chad Dillard 3 1-2 7, Gary Ricks 7 1-2 20, Latroy Taylor 0 0-0 0, D.J. Bennett 1 1-1 3 Team 21 9-18 57

THREE RIVERS Terrance Glass 2 1-2 6, Rudy Harrell 6 3-6 15, Tarius Johnson 6 2-5 14, Jay Raulston 3 6-10 13, Hunter Gibson 0 2-2 2, Bryant Strozier 1 0-0 2, Antonio Gardner 1 1-3 3, Deonte Jones 2 0-0 5, Ivan Jurkovic 1 0-0 2 Team 22 15-28 62

Halftime score: Three Rivers 30, Indian Hills 26; Three-point field goals: IHCC 6 (Ricks 5, Jones 1), TRCC 3 (Glass 1, Raulston 1, Jones 1)