There’s nothing wrong with conserving energy, but the Fairland Dragons took it the wrong way.

The Dragons lack of energy helped the River Valley Raiders pull off a 65-61 upset Tuesday in an Ohio Valley Conference game.

“We showed up with no energy and no life. They went ahead 21-8 and we couldn’t recover. We battled hard, but we just couldn’t make the plays,” said Fairland coach John McClung.

Fairland (6-4, 2-2) closed to within three points in the fourth quarter, but the Raiders’ Kody Johnson scored eight points to negate the Dragons’ effort including seven points by Zach Jordan.

“We couldn’t get it tied or get the lead. We couldn’t make the simple plays when we needed,” said McClung.

“We missed layups we should’ve made and we had 13 turnovers and it was just us doing something silly.”

The Dragons forced River Valley into 24 turnovers, but the Raiders were 25-of-54 from the field for 46 percent including 4-of-8 from behind the arc.

Fairland was a mere 23-of-69 from the floor for 33 percent and a dismal 3-of-24 from 3-point range.

Johnson had six points and Cody McAvena five as River Valley jumped ahead 21-11 in the first quarter. Tyler Godby had seven of Fairland’s points.

Matt Bloomfield scored four points as Fairland cut the deficit to 31-29 at the half, but McAvena drained three 3-pointers in the third quarter as the lead went to 47-41.

Johnson scored 22points and McAvena 16 for River Valley (2-6, 1-3).

Bloomfield scored 14, Jordan12 and Godby had 11points and six rebounds for the Dragons.

River Valley 21 10 16 18 = 65

Fairland 11 18 12 20 = 61

RIVER VALLEY (2-6, 1-3): Cody Smith 1 1 0-0 5, Jordan Deel 0 0 2-4 2, Cody McAvena 3 3 1-4 16, Clayton Curnutte 5 0 1-2 11, Kody Johnson 9 0 4-6 22, Parker Hollingsworth 1 0 0-0 2, Zack Deel 2 0 3-4 7. Totals: 25-54 11-21 65. Fouls: 20. Fouled out: Z. Deel. 3-point goals: 4-8. Assists: 7. Rebounds: 28 (Z. Deel 10, J. Deel 9). Turnovers: 24.

FAIRLAND (6-4, 2-2): Zach Jordan 2 1 5-6 12, Matt Bloomfield 7 0 0-0 14, Chad Fisher 1 2 0-0 8, Cole Hatfield 4 0 0-0 8, Tyler Godby 3 0 5-6 11, Adam Berry 2 0 2-2 6, Evan Salyers 1 0 0-0 2. Totals: 23-69 12-17 61.Fouls: 18. Fouled out: Jordan. 3-point goals: 3-24. Assists: 12. Rebounds: 32 (Hatfield 8, Godby 6, Bloomfield 5). Turnovers: 13.