Raiders go 0-4 at Needville tournament

The Rice Raiders started their season with a 3-0 record before traveling to compete in the Needville tournament.

The Raiders are still settling in the season but used this time to play some high-level competition to prepare them to have a even better season than last year.

The Raiders opened the tournament against the host, Needville, the Raiders wanted to make a good first impression. Needville only lost six games last season and were district champs so a win against them to start the tournament would have been huge for the Raiders.

Unfortunately, that was not the case, the Raiders came up short by only one point with a final score of 53-52. The Raiders offense was as potent as ever but was unable to even things up before time ran out.

While the offense seemed to have picked up where they left off the kryptonite for the Raiders last season was their defense. They showed flashes of what they can be but their defensive struggles continued to haunt them at the Needville tournament.

In game two the Raiders gave up 57 points while they scored 39 for their second loss of the tournament. A bit of a step back from game one especially on the offensive side.

The Raiders scored 52 in the opening game but dropped down 13 points in game number two. That is cause for concern for some fans of the team, but the Raiders are a battle tested team that will find a way to bounce back.

The offense did indeed bounce back with Robert Bennett and D’Neriyan Fuller finding their rhythm. The Raiders went on to score 59 points in their next two games but was still unable to get in the win column.

The Raiders defensive struggles continued as they gave up 62 points to Columbia and then 61 points to Tuloso-Midway to finish the tournament. While the results were not what the Raiders wanted it is still early in the season and have plenty of time to get things back in order before they start their district schedule.

The Raiders are scheduled to play against East Bernard on Tuesday, Dec. 10, on their home court in Altair, TX.