A dozen students from the Hayti School District visited Three Rivers College as part of a literacy program. It was a day of hospitality and outreach, until incoming Raider and Poplar Bluff alum Willie Lucas was faced with the possibility of losing to a ninth grader in a game of knockout.
"I had to win a little bit. I hate losing to anybody," Lucas said. "It was a fun game. I tried to have fun with the kids."
The Hayti students, after meeting the team, took an assessment of their reading levels.
"Our hope is, if we can get the kids interested in this literacy program and get them interested in it consistently, that by the time they're ready to graduate, they have the literacy and the writing skills they need for college. If they decide to come into Three Rivers, they can skip a lot of those transitional classes and go right into the college level," Three Rivers reading coordinator Lisa Gray said. "Once we get through that assessment, we are able to see and to individualize each student a program."
Gray said Hayti is the fourth community school that the Three Rivers literacy program has worked with in the past year.
Before the test, the students, ranging from eighth to 12th grades, met in the Bess Activity Center about a half dozen Raiders and Lady Raiders and got to shoot around and hang out with the team. General interest and skill in basketball was varied.
The Three Rivers coaching staff and players reminded the Hayti students that grades always come first.
Toward the end of a game of knockout, Trevonte Taylor and Devontae Taylor, both soon to be ninth graders, were in the in final four with a pair of Raiders. Then it was just Trevonte and Lucas.
"I was like, 'wow' I'm shooting as good as college kids?" Trevonte said. "That's pretty good."
Trevonte initially had the advantage, shooting after Lucas from the free-throw line, but the tables turned. Trevonte's miss bounced wide and Lucas was able to follow up his shot with quick putback for the win.
"I still wanted to win. He got me," said Trevonte, who is working with way through the book "Tuck Everlasting" at home. "I wish I got another shot in before he got me. But that was a good game. Playing with college kids, that's an experience not many kids would get.
"I was looking forward to talking to the athlete," Trevonte added. "Seeing how it is with the school and the sports, how they do all that together."