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The Raiders picked up their first win of the season Monday against the Entiat Tigers by the score of 59-56.

The Entiat Tigers came in Monday on a two-game winning streak and looked to make it three at the cost of the Raiders. It was an uphill battle for the Raiders most of the game. The Tigers held the lead for most the game and had two big shooters in Jeremy Davis and Truong Tran.

At the end of the half, it was Entiat 28, LR 24.

After halftime, the Raiders stormed the floor, taking the lead after a Trey Nicolson bucket and Merle Picards three pointer. Entiat fought back and tied it up before the end of quarter when Picard sunk the shot from the orange volleyball sideline to give the Raiders a 43-40 lead.

In the fourth, Entiat began to lose focus and foul a lot. The Raiders used the opportunities presented to build a five-point lead. But Entiat hit a three with 11 seconds left, then quickly got the ball back with 5.7 seconds left to try and tie. Entiat inbounded and put up the three that missed.

Austin Rosenbaum grabbed the rebound to seal the win for the Raiders.

LR had three players scoring over 10 points: Chance Garvin had 16, Kendall Piccolo scored 14, and Merle Picard put up 11 points. Daniel Campobosso recorded a block and four points, along with several rebounds.

Head Coach Jeff Brisbois was proud of the effort.

“I have never been disappointed with the guys’ efforts,” he said. “They have not quit on me.”

Brisbois noted the Raiders need to take better care of the boards.

“We took care just enough to win tonight, but we need to be better on Friday at Pateros,” he said.

The addition of Chance Garvin gives Brisbois four point guards who can run his offense (Drew Saxon, Merle Picard, Garvin and Justus DeWinkler), giving him multiple options down the road.

After a difficult loss to the Bulldogs, the Raiders showed considerable improvement on offense and defense and played a much tougher game than the score says against Tonasket on Dec. 4. The final was Tonasket 57, LR 44.

The Raiders used a 2-3 zone with some success in the first half slowing down the Tigers inside. On the arc, Tonasket had shooters who were the big reason the Tigers were up 16-12 at the end of the first quarter.

In the second quarter, the Raiders switched to a man defense and mismatches began to appear. The Tiger shooters stayed hot while the Raiders went on a cold streak that was broken by DeWinkler hitting a jump shot.

LR scored only seven points in the second quarter, giving the 32-19 halftime lead to Tonasket.

The Raiders came out playing better all around in the second half. Brisbois kept his cool throughout the whole game and during the comeback he focused on coaching and keeping his guys focused on the game. The score at the end of the third quarter was Tonasket 42, LR 30.

In the fourth, the gap closed to single digits, but too many fouls gave the Tigers shot advantage at the free-throw line for the final the victory.

Saxon and Garvin provided offensive spark or stiff defense. Campobosso stood his ground in the paint and showed coachability. Coach Brisbois liked how shooting went up in the game against Tonasket, but said effort dropped compared with the Okanogan game.